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The Historic corner, at Wall and Nassau Streets, 
New York, where George Washington was inaugu- 
rated first President of the United States of America 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 
TOWARD THE WAR 



IHE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGES; 
OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE 
WITH THE ENTENTE ALLIES 
AND THE CENTRAL POWERS, AND 
CERTAIN OFFICIAL PAPERS AND 
SPEECHES BEARING UPON THE 
GREAT WAR, COMPILED AND CON- 
DENSED IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, 
TOGETHER WITH A RESUME OF THE 
IMPORTANT BATTLES AND EVENTS 
OF THE GREAT WAR 




PUBLISHED BY 

Bankers Trust Company 

NEW YORK 



333 



ir^y 28 m 




To Our Friends: 

We have thought that you would be 
interested, as we have been, in rereading 
and preserving the messages of the Pres- 
ident of the United States since the out- 
break of the Great War, and the official 
correspondence with the European na- 
tions during this period, and also certain 
other noteworthy official utterances vital 
to the issues involved. 

In the spirit of mutual interest we 
have secured these documents, mostly 
from official sources, and have compiled 
them in chronological order, eliminating 
and condensing such detail as we felt 
would be of little interest to the general 
reader. 

Concerned as we all are with any mat- 
ters that bear upon the welfare of our 
nation, we feel confident that you will be 
glad to have this, compendium in a per- 
manent form for ready reference. 

Bankers Trust Company 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Declarations of War -------_-.-«_. g 

Neutrality of the United States 

President's Proclamations to Belligerents -----___ ^ 

President's Appeal to Citizens ------------ n 

Rule as to Neutral Rights 

U. S. Asks Position of Belligerents as to Declaration of London - 13 

Replies of European Powers ----________ i^ 

U. S. Reverts to International Law and Treaty Rights - - - - 13 

U. S. Holds Armed Merchant Vessels Legal ------- 14 

Restraints of Neutral Commerce 

British Declaration of Blockade and Contraband Restrictions - - 13 

U. S. Asserts Rights to Trade ------------ 15 

Great Britain Maintains Position Regarding Contraband - - - 17 

Britain Explains Use of Neutral Flag ---_-_--_ 29 

U. S. Seeks Mutual Concessions from Belligerents ----- 30 

Replies of Belligerents -------------- 31 

U. S. Insists on Usages of International Law ------- 32 

Acquiescence Charged by Germany ---------- 33 

U. S. Denies Charge --------------- 33 

Germany's Submarine Warfare 

Germany Proclaims Submarine Blockade -------- 19 

U. S. Asserts Neutral Rights and "Strict Accountability" - - - 22 

Germany Offers Conditional Modification -------- 24 

Germany Defines Course Toward Ships of Neutrals ----- 53 

U. S. Proposes Submarine Rules ----------- 57 

Germany Withdraws Submarine Pledge --------- 90 

U. S. Breaks with Germany -______----- 95 

The Lusitania Case 

U. S. Lusitania Note --------------- 36 

Germany's Reply ---------------- 39 

U. S. Denies Lusitania Was Armed --- -- 42 

Germany States Position --- - 47 

U. S. Reply to Second Note ___ 50 

German Assurance to Non-Combatants --------- 56 

The Sussex Case 

Sinking of the Sussex --------------- 59 

Germans Discredit Identity ------------- 59 

U. S. Warns Germany of Severance of Relations ------ 60 

Germany Promises Submarine Restriction Under Conditions - - 54-65 

U. S. Accepts Pledge, Rejects Conditions -------- 69 

[6] 



Other Submarine Cases p^^g 

The Arabic Case ----------______ cS 

Falaba, Cashing, Gulflight ---------____ ^6 

Germany's Reply on Cushing and Gulflight ---____ ^q 

Nebraskan ------------______ ce 

Leelanaw -------------______ rr 

Orduna -------------______ re 

Englishman ------------•______ co 

Manchester Engineer ---------______ co 

Eagle Point -----------_______ eg 

Berwindale -----------_______ rg 

Housatonic ------------______ 102 

Lyman M. Law -----------_____ 102 

Peace Proposals 

Germany Suggests Submissioh of Terms ----____ 70 

Lloyd George Discusses German OflFer -----____ ye 

Formal Reply of Allies --------______ go 

President Wilson's Peace Note to Belligerent Nations - - - yi 

Central Powers' Response ---------____ gj 

Allies' Reply gj 

President's Appeal for League of Peace ------___ gg 

President's Address to Congress on Break with Germany - - _ gc 

The President Refuses Overtures to Parley ----____ jqo 

The President Requests Authority to Arm Merchantmen - - - loi 

Lloyd George's Lincoln Day Speech -------___ jog 

American Merchant Ships Armed 

A State of War ------ jjq 

President Wilson's Call for Declaration of War 

A Warfare Against Mankind -------_____ J12 

Vindication of Human Right -------_____ 112 

Submarines, as Used, Outlaws --------____ u^ 

Immediate Steps Against Germany ------____ ha 

Counsel and Action With the Allies ------____ ha 

Against Selfish and Autocratic Power ----_____ ur 

Against Secret Intrigue and Cunning ---______ jjg 

A Partnership of Democratic Nations --_______ hj 

Criminal Intrigues of Prussian Autocracy ---_____ ug 

For the Liberation of the German Peoples Included ----- ug 

Friends of the German People --------____ 120 

Right is More Precious than Peace -----_____ 121 

War Between the United States and Germany 

Formally Declared ---------_. 122 

Important Battles and Events of the War -------- 123 



[7] 



T)ECLARATIONS OF WAT{^ 

Austria-Hungary against Serbia, July 28, 1914. 

Germany against Russia, August i, 1914. 

Germany against France, August 3, 1914. 

France against Germany, August 3, 1914. 

Germany against Belgium, without declaration, August 4, 1914. 

Great Britain against Germany, August 5, 1914. 

Austria-Hungary against Russia, August 6, 1914. 

Montenegro against Austria, August 10, 1914. 

France against Austria-Hungary, August 12, 1914. 

Great Britain against Austria-Hungary, August 13, 1914. 

Japan against Germany, August 23, 1914. 

Japan against Austria, August 26, 1914. 

Turkey against Russia, August 27, 1914. 

Germany against Belgium, August 28, 1914. 

Turkey against Great Britain, November 5, 1914. 

Turkey against Belgium, November 27, 19 14. 

Turkey against France, November 27, 1914. 

Turkc)' against Japan, November 27, 1914. 

Turkey against Russia, November 27, 1914. 

Italy against Austria, May 23, 1915. 

Turkey against Serbia, August 2, 1915. 

Turkey against Italy, August 2, 191 5. 

Italy against Turkey, August 21, 191 5. 

Great Britain against Bulgaria, October 16, 1915. 

France against Bulgaria, October 18, 1915. 

Italy against Bulgaria, October 19, 191 5. 

Bulgaria against Italy, October 19, 1915. 

Albania against Austria, December 25, 1915. 

Albania against Bulgaria, January i, 1916. 

Germany against Portugal, March 9, 1916. 

Austria against Portugal, March 16, 1916. 

Portugal against Austria, March 16, 1916. 

Germany against Rumania, August 27, 1916. 

Turkey against Rumania, August 30, 1916. 

Germany against Rumania, state of war only, Sept. 14, 1916, 

Greek Provisional Government against Bulgaria, Nov. 28, 1916. 

Greek Provisional Government agamst Germany, Nov. 28, 1916. 

United States against Germany, April 6, 1917. 




EUTRALITY OF THE UNITED STATES 



The President's Proclamations to Belligerents 

IMMEDIATELY following the declarations of war 
in Europe the President issued a Neutrality Proc- 
lamation, declaring and enjoining neutrality of a 
like purport, to the belligerent nations. In this 
proclamation of August 14, 1914, without interfering 
with the free expression of opinion and sympathy 
or with the commercial manufacture or sale of arms or 
munitions of war, "ordinarily known as contraband 
of war," he enjoined upon all persons within the 
territory of the United States the duty of impartial 
neutrality during the existence of the contest. He 
quoted the penal code prohibiting all persons from 
engaging to serve in the military or naval services 
of belligerents while within United States territory, 
retaining other persons for belligerent purposes, fitting 
out and arming or procuring to be fitted out and armed 
any ship or vessel to be employed in the service of 
either of said belligerents, furnishing supplies to ships 
of war in the service of any belligerent or beginning 
or setting on foot or aiding any military expedition 
or enterprise to be carried on from the territory or 
jurisdiction of the United States against any of the 
belligerents. He issued warnings against the placing 

[9] 



of any warlike equipment upon belligerent war vessels 
while within American waters, restricting supplies 
to food, fuel and repairs necessary to reach their home 
port, and limited the stay of any belligerent war vessel 
in American harbors to twenty-four hours. 

He warned all citizens and all persons residing 
within the territory of the United States not to carry 
"contraband of war" on the high seas, nor to "attempt 
to break any blockade which may be lawfully estab- 
lished and maintained during the wars without in- 
curring the risk of hostile capture and the penalties 
denounced by the law of nations in that behalf/' 



[10] 



America's attitude toward the war 

An Appeal and Definition of 
Neutrality by the President 

TTARDLY had war gotten well under way in Europe 
■*- ■*■ before it was apparent that the passions and inherent 
partisanship of alien born citizens of the United States 
threatened to disturb national neutrality. On August 14th, 
1914, the President issued a note to the Senate on the 
subject, as follows: 

"My Fellow Countrymen: I suppose that every 
thoughtful man in America has asked himself, during these 
last troubled weeks, what influence the European war may 
exert upon the United States, and I take the liberty of 
addressing a few words to you in order to point out that it 
is entirely within our own choice what its effects upon us 
will be and to urge very earnestly upon you the sort of 
speech and conduct which will best safeguard the Nation 
against distress and disaster. 

"The efi^ect of the war upon the United States will depend 
upon what American citizens say and do. Every man who 
really loves America will act and speak in the true spirit of 
neutrality, which is the spirit of impartiality and fairness 
and friendliness to all concerned. The spirit of the Nation 
in this critical matter will be determined largely by what 
individuals and society and those gathered in public meet- 
ings do and say, upon what newspapers and magazines con- 
tain, upon what ministers utter in their pulpits, and men 
proclaim as their opinions on the street. 

"The people of the United States are drawn from many 
nations, and chiefly from the nations now at war. It is 
natural and inevitable that there should be the utmost 
variety of sympathy and desire among them with regard to 
the issues and circumstances of the conflict. Some will wish 
one nation, others another, to succeed in the momentous 
struggle. It will be easy to excite passion and difficult to 

[ 11 ] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



allay it. Those responsible for exciting it will assume a 
heavy responsibility, responsibility for no less a thing than 
that the people of the United States, whose love of their 
country and whose loyalty to its Government should unite 
them as Americans all bound in honor and affection to 
think first of her and her interests, may be divided in camps 
of hostile opinion, hot against each other, involved in the 
war itself in impulse and opinion if not in action. 

"Such divisions among us would be fatal to our peace of 
mind and might seriously stand in the way of the proper 
performance of our duty as the one great nation at peace, 
the one people holding itself ready to play a part of impartial 
mediation and speak the counsels of peace and accommoda- 
tion, not as a partisan, but as a friend. 

*'I venture, therefore, my fellow countrymen, to speak a 
solemn word of warning to you against that deepest, most 
subtle, most essential breach of neutrality which may spring 
out of partisanship, out of passionately taking sides. The 
United States must be neutral in fact as well as in name 
during these days that are to try men's souls. We must be 
impartial in thought as well as in action, must put a curb 
upon our sentiments as well as upon every transaction that 
might be construed as a preference of one party to the strug- 
gle before another. 

"My thought is of America. I am speaking, I feel sure, 
the earnest wish and purpose of every thoughtful American 
that this great country of ours, which is, of course, the first 
in our thoughts and in our hearts, should show herself in this 
time of pecuHar trial a Nation fit beyond others to exhibit 
the fine poise of undisturbed judgment, the dignity of self- 
control, the efficiency of dispassionate action; a Nation 
that neither sits in judgment upon others nor is disturbed 
in her own counsels and which keeps herself fit and free to do 
what is honest and disinterested and truly serviceable for 
the peace of the world. 

"Shall we not resolve to put upon ourselves the restraints 
which will bring to our people the happiness and the great 
and lasting influence for peace we covet for them.f*" 

[12] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



The Declaration of London 

PREVIOUS to this note the Secretary of State, on 
August 6, 1914, instructed our Ambassadors to all the 
belligerent countries to inquire whether the Declaration 
London, of approved in 1909, should be applicable to 
naval warfare during the existing conflict, expressing the 
belief that such application would prevent misunderstand- 
ings between belHgerent powers and neutrals. 

Germany and Austria-Hungary expressed conditional 
willingness. Great Britain, followed by France and Russia, 
submitted certain modifications, enlarging the scope under 
which contraband goods might be seized and reconstruing 
the rules governing prize courts. 

Maintaining Our Rights and Duties 
Under Existing International Law 

TirrHEREUPON the Secretary of State, in a dispatch 
^^ to the belligerent nations, withdrew its suggestion 
and declared that this Government would insist "that the 
rights and duties of the United States and its citizens in 
the present war be defined by the existing rules of inter- 
national law and the treaties of the United States irre- 
spective of the provisions of the Declaration of London;" 
and "that this Government reserves the right to enter a 
protest or demand in every case in which the rights and 
duties so defined are violated or their free exercise interfered 
with by the authorities of the belligerent Governments." 

British Declaration of 
Blockade and Contraband 

GREAT BRITAIN declared a blockade of German ports 
at the commencement of the war and on August 5, 
1914, issued a list of absolute and conditional contraband of 
war, which was successively extended to cover unwrought 
copper, lead, glycerine, rubber and other materials which 
might be used in manufacturing munitions of war. In a 
"white paper" April 13, 19 16, all the remaining conditional 

[ 13] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



contraband list was made absolute. Almost identically 
each belligerent nation issued contraband lists. 

Armed Merchant Vessels 
Held to be Legal 

'T^HE German Foreign Office transmitted a memorandum 
-■- to Ambassador Gerard October 15, 191 5, referring to an 
official notice in the Westminster Gazette, stating that the 
Department of State at Washington had ruled that armed 
merchant ships of belHgerent nations should be treated as 
merchant ships while in American ports, provided the arm- 
ament was for defensive purposes only. 

The Foreign Office declared that this ruling failed tocomply 
with neutrality, adding that British vessels were equipped 
with armament for the purpose of resisting German cruisers, 
contrary to international law. 

The Acting Secretary of State replied, dissenting 
from the German view. He asserted: 

"The practice of a majority of nations and the consensus 
of opinon by the leading authorities on international law, in- 
cluding many German writers, support the proposition that 
merchant vessels may arm for defense without losing their 
private character and that they may employ such armament 
against hostile attack without contravening the principles of 
international law." 

The purpose of an armament on a merchant vessel, it was 
stated, was to be determined by various circumstances, among 
which are the number and position of the guns, the quantity of 
ammunition and fuel, the number and sex of the passengers, 
nature of cargo, etc. 

Nevertheless, to avoid controversy, it was stated, the United 
States government had expressed its disapproval of a prac- 
tice which compelled it to pass upon a vessel's intended use, 
with the possibility of becoming involved in a charge of un- 
neutral conduct through error. The German government 
was assured that only two such armed merchantmen had en- 
tered and cleared in the preceding two months. 



[14] 



TOWARD THE WAR 






Restraints of neutral commerce 



^ I ^HE frequent seizures and detentions of American cargoes 
-^ destined to neutral European ports became so serious 
that on December 26, 1914, the Secretary of State addressed 
a note, setting forth his attitude, to the British Government, 
a misconstruction of which, the note set forth, cannot but be 
considered to be an "infringement upon the rights of American 
citizens." Continuing, the despatch in part stated: "It 
is therefore a matter of deep regret that, though nearly 
five months have passed since the war began, the British 
Government have not materially changed their policy and 
do not treat less rigorously ships and cargoes passing be- 
tween neutral ports in the peaceful pursuit of lawful com- 
merce, which belligerents should protect rather than in- 
terrupt. The greater freedom from detention and seizure 
which was confidently expected to result from consigning 
shipments to definite consignees, rather than *to order,' 
is still awaited." 

The Secretary of State 

Addresses the British Government on 

Restraints on Commerce 

TT IS needless to point out to His Majesty's Government, 
-'- usually the champion of the freedom of the seas and the 
rights of trade, that peace, not war, is the normal relation 
between nations, and that the commerce between countries 
which are not belligerents should not be interfered with by 
those at war unless such interference is manifestly an imper- 
ative necessity to protect their national safety, and then 
only to the extent that it is a necessity. It is with no lack 
of appreciation of the momentous nature of the present 
struggle in which Great Britain is engaged and with no 
selfish desire to gain undue commercial advantage that this 
Government is reluctantly forced to the conclusion that the 

[ 15] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



present policy of His Majesty's Government toward neutral 
ships and cargoes exceeds the manifest necessity of a bel- 
ligerent and constitutes restrictions upon the rights of 
American citizens on the high seas which are not justified by 
the rules of international law or required under the principle 
of self-preservation. 

"The Government of the United States does not intend at 
this time to discuss the propriety of including certain articles 
in the lists of absolute and conditional contraband, which 
have been proclaimed by His Majesty. Open to objection 
as some of these seem to this Government, the chief ground 
of present complaint is the treatment of cargoes of both 
classes of articles when bound to neutral ports. 

"Articles listed as absolute contraband, shipped from the 
United States and consigned to neutral countries, have been 
seized and detained on the ground that the countries to which 
they were destined have not prohibited the exportation of 
such articles. Unwarranted as such detentions are, in the 
opinion of this Government, American exporters are further 
perplexed by the apparent indecision of the British authori- 
ties in applying their own rules to neutral cargoes. For 
example, a shipment of copper from this country to a speci- 
fied consignee in Sweden was detained because, as was 
stated by Great Britain, Sweden had placed no embargo on 
copper. On the other hand, Italy not only prohibited the 
export of copper, but, as this Government is informed, put 
in force a decree that shipments to Italian consignees or 
'to order,' which arrive in ports of Italy, cannot be ex- 
ported or transshipped. The only exception Italy makes 
is of copper which passes through that country in transit to 
another country. In spite of these decrees, however, the 
British Foreign Office has thus far declined to affirm that 
copper shipments consigned to Italy will not be molested on 
the high seas. Seizures are so numerous and delays so pro- 
longed that exporters are afraid to send their copper to Italy, 
steamship lines decline to accept it, and insurers refuse to 
issue policies upon it. In a word, a legitimate trade is being 
greatly impaired through uncertainty as to the treatment 

[16] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



which it may expect at the hands of the British author- 
ities. * * * 

"The Government of the United States readily admits the 
full right of a belligerent to visit and search on the high 
seas the vessels of American citizens or other neutral vessels 
carrying American goods and to detain them when there is 
sufficient evidence to justify a belief that contraband articles are 
in their cargoes: but His Majesty's Government, judging 
by their own experience in the past, must realize that this 
Government cannot without protest permit American ships 
or American cargoes to be taken into British ports and there 
detained for the purpose of searching generally for evidence 
of contraband, or upon presumptions created by special 
municipal enactments which are clearly at variance with 
international law and practice. 

"This Government believes, and earnestly hopes His 
Majesty's Government will come to the same belief, that a 
course of conduct more in conformity with the rules of 
international usage, which Great Britain has strongly 
sanctioned for many years, will in the end better serve the 
interest of belligerents as well as those of neutrals." 

Great Britain's Reply on 
Restraints on Commerce 

TN A very exhaustive reply, Jan. 7, 191 5, the British 
•*• Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Sir Edward Grey, 
pointed out the vast increase in our foreign trade with 
neutral countries as an evidence that our trade had not 
fallen off because of the seizure of our cargoes or the activities 
of the British authorities, and went on to say: "His Majes- 
ty's Government cordially concur in the principle enunciated 
by the Government of the United States that a belligerent, 
in dealing with trade between neutrals, should not interfere 
unless such interference is necessary to protect the bel- 
ligerent's national safety, and then only to the extent to 
which this is necessary. We shall endeavor to keep our 
action within the limits of this principle on the understand- 
ing that it admits our right to interfere when such inter- 

[17] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



ference is not with 'bona fide' trade between the United 
States and another neutral country, but with trade in 
contraband destined for the enemy's country, and we are 
ready, whenever our action may unintentionally exceed this 
principle, to make redress. * * * 

"We are confronted with the growing danger that neutral 
countries contiguous to the enemy will become on a scale 
hitherto unprecedented a base of supplies for the armed 
forces of our enemies and for materials for manufacturing 
armament. The trade figures of imports show how strong 
this tendency is, but we have no complaint to make of the 
attitude of the Governments of those countries, which so far 
as we are aware have not departed from proper rules of 
neutrality. We endeavor in the interest of our own national 
safety to prevent this danger by intercepting goods really 
destined for the enemy without interfering with those which 
are 'bona fide' neutral." 

In a subsequent note on this subject, Mr. Grey maintained 
that "the general result is to show convincingly that the 
naval operations of Great Britain are not the cause of any 
diminution in the volume of American exports, and that if 
the commerce of the United States is in the unfavorable 
condition which your Excellency describes, the cause ought 
in fairness to be sought elsewhere than in the activities of 
His Majesty's naval forces." 

He also said that "no one in these days will dispute the 
general proposition that a belligerent is entitled to capture 
contraband goods on their way to the enemy; that right has 
now become consecrated by long usage and general ac- 
quiescence." 

He further quoted Secretary Seward in the days of the 
Civil War, in reference to "the course of the diplomatic dis- 
cussion arising out of the capture of some goods on their 
way to Matamoros, which were believed to be for the in- 
surgents, as follows: 

"Neutrals engaged in honest trade with Matamoros 
must expect to experience inconvenience from the existing 

[ 18] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



blockade of Brownsville and the adjacent coast of Texas. 
While this Government unfeignedly regrets this incon- 
venience, it cannot relinquish any of its belligerent rights 
to favor contraband trade with insurgent territory. By 
insisting upon those rights, however, it is sure that that 
necessity for their exercise at all, which must be deplored 
by every friendly commercial power, will the more speedily 
be terminated." 

Mr. Grey maintained the rights to seize and stop im- 
portations of contraband to neutral countries, closing his 
exhaustive treatise on the subject as follows: "It will still be 
our endeavor to avoid injury and loss to neutrals, but the 
announcement by the German Government of their inten- 
tion to sink merchant vessels and their cargoes without veri- 
fication of their nationality or character, and without mak- 
ing any provision for the safety of non-combatant crews or 
giving them a chance of saving their lives, had made it 
necessary for His Majesty's Government to consider what 
measures they should adopt to protect their interests. It is 
impossible for one belligerent to depart from rules and 
precedents and for the other to remain bound by them." 

Germany's Submarine Blockade 

CLOSELY follov^ing upon the American protest 
against the seizure of cargoes and detention of 
ships bound for neutral countries, Germany declared 
a submarine blockade of the waters surrounding Great 
Britain and Ireland. The note was transmitted by 
Ambassador Gerard, February 6th, 1915, and was as 
follows : 

Proclamation 

I. The waters surrounding Great Britain and Ireland, 
including the whole of the English channel, are hereby 
declared to be war zone. On and after the i8th of February, 
191 5, every enemy merchant ship found in the said war 
zone will be destroyed without its being always possible 
to avert the dangers threatening the crews and passengers 
on that account. 

[ 19] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



2. Even neutral ships are exposed to danger in the 
war zone, as in view of the misuse of neutral flags ordered 
on January 31 by the British Government and of the 
accidents of naval war, it cannot always be avoided to 
strike even neutral ships in attacks that are directed at 
enemy ships. 

3. Northward navigation around the Shetland Islands, 
in the eastern waters of the North Sea, and in a strip of 
not less than 30 miles width along the Netherland coast, 
is in no danger. 

Von Pohl 

Chief of the Admiral Staff of the Navy 

In a second enclosure, after charging bad faith on the 
part of the British Government with respect to the Declara- 
tion of London and the Declaration of Paris, unfairness in 
regard to contraband rules and the unlawful removal of 
German subjects from neutral ships, and a plan to starve 
Germany by blockade of the North Sea, it was asserted that 
the neutral powers had acquiesced in the measures of the 
British Government. Reference was made to ''theoretical 
protests" by neutrals condoning acts which Great Britain 
excused as necessary to her vital interests. 

Germany Warns Neutrals in 
Blockade Zones 

SUBMARINE warfare was proclaimed as follows: "The 
time has come for Germany also to invoke such vitalin- 
terests. It therefore finds itself under the necessity, to its 
regret, of taking military measures against England in 
retahation of the practice followed by England. Just as 
England declared the whole North Sea between Scotland 
and Norway to be comprised within the seat of war, so does 
Germany now declare the waters surrounding Great Britain 
and Ireland, including the whole EngHsh Channel, to be 
comprised within the seat of war, and will prevent by all 
the military means at its disposal all navigation by the enemy 
in those waters. To this end it will endeavor to destroy, 
after February 18 next, any merchant vessels of the enemy 
which present themselves at the seat of war above indicated, 

[20] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



although it may not always be possible to avert the dangers 
which may menace persons and merchandise. Neutral 
powers are accordingly forewarned not to continue to en- 
trust their crews, passengers, or merchandise to such vessels. 
Their attention is furthermore called to the fact that it is 
of urgency to recommend to their own vessels to steer clear 
of these waters. It is true that the German Navy has re- 
ceived instructions to abstain from all violence against 
neutral vessels recognizable as such; but in view of the 
hazards of war, and of the misuse of the neutral flag ordered 
by the British Government, it will not always be possible to 
prevent a neutral vessel from becoming the victim of an 
attack intended to be directed against a vessel of the enemy. 
It is expressly declared that navigation in the waters north 
of the Shetland Islands is outside the danger zone, as well as 
navigation in the eastern part of the North Sea and in a 
zone thirty marine miles wide along the Dutch coast. 

"The German Government announces this measure at 
a time permitting enemy and neutral ships to make the 
necessary arrangements to reach the ports situated at the 
seat of war. They hope that the neutral powers will accord 
consideration to the vital interests of Germany equally 
with those of England, and will on their part assist in 
keeping their subjects and their goods far from the seat 
of war; the more so since they likewise have a great interest 
in seeing the termination, at an early day, of the war now 
ravaging." 

Reply of the United States to the 
Submarine Note 

'T^HE reply of the United States to the German sub- 
■*- marine proclamation reviewed the allegations of 
illegal conduct on the part of Germany's enemies and 
announced itself compelled to call attention to the 
serious possibilities of the course of action indicated. 
In reference to the blockade and proposed submarine 
activities, Secretary Bryan said: 

[21] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



Department of State 
Washington, Feb. lO, 19 1 5 

* * * "The Government of the United States views 
those possibiHties with such grave concern that it feels it 
to be its privilege, and indeed its duty in the circumstances, 
to request the Imperial German Government to consider 
before action is taken the critical situation in respect of the 
relations between this country and Germany which might 
arise were the German naval forces, in carrying out the policy 
foreshadowed in the Admiralty's proclamation, to destroy 
any merchant vessel of the United States or cause the death 
of American citizens. 

"It is of course not necessary to remind the German 
Government that the sole right of a belligerent in dealing 
with neutral vessels on the high seas is limited to visit and 
search, unless a blockade is proclaimed and effectively 
maintained, which this Government does not understand to 
be proposed in this case. To declare or exercise a right to 
attack and destroy any vessel entering a prescribed area of 
the high seas without first certainly determining its bel- 
ligerent nationality and the contraband character of its 
cargo would be an act so unprecedented in naval warfare 
that this Government is reluctant to beheve that the 
Imperial Government of Germany in this case contem- 
plates it as possible. The suspicion that enemy ships are 
using neutral flags improperly can create no just presump- 
tion that all ships traversing a prescribed area are subject 
to the same suspicion. It is to determine exactly such 
questions that this Government understands the right of 
visit and search to have been recognized. 

"This Government has carefully noted the explanatory 
statement issued by the Imperial German Government at 
the same time with the proclamation of the German Admiral- 
ty, and takes this occasion to remind the Imperial German 
Government very respectfully that the Government of the 
United States is open to none of the criticisms for unneutral 
action to which the German Government believe the 
Governments of certain of other neutral nations have laid 

[ 22 ] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



themselves open; that the Government of the United 
States has not consented to or acquiesced in any measures 
which may have been taken by the other belligerent nations 
in the present war which operate to restrain neutral trade, 
but has, on the contrary, taken in all such matters a posi- 
tion which warrants it in holding those Governments re- 
sponsible in the proper way for any untoward effects upon 
American shipping which the accepted principles of inter- 
national law do not justify; and that it, therefore, regards 
itself as free in the present instance to take with a clear 
conscience and upon accepted principles the position indi- 
cated in this note. 

"If the commanders of German vessels of war should act 
upon the presumption that the flag of the United States 
was not being used in good faith and should destroy on the 
high seas an American vessel or the lives of American citi- 
zens, it would be difficult for the Government of the United 
States to view the act in any other light than as an inde- 
fensible violation of neutral rights which it would be very 
hard indeed to reconcile with the friendly relations now so 
happily subsisting between the two Governments. 

"If such a deplorable situation should arise, the Imperial 
German Government can readily appreciate that the Gov- 
ernment of the United States would be constrained to hold 
the Imperial German Government to a strict accountabihty 
for such acts of their naval authorities and to take any steps 
it might be necessary to take to safeguard American lives 
and property and to secure to American citizens the full 
enjoyment of their acknowledged rights on the high seas. 

"The Government of the United States, in view of these 
considerations, which it urges with the greatest respect and 
with the sincere purpose of making sure that no misunder- 
standing may arise and no circumstance occur that might 
even cloud the intercourse of the two Governments, ex- 
presses the confident hope and expectation that the Im- 
perial German Government can and will give assurance 
that American citizens and their vessels will not be molested 
by the naval forces of Germany otherwise than by visit 

[23] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



and search, though their vessels may be traversing the sea 
area delimited in the proclamation of the German Ad- 
miralty. 

"It is added for the information of the Imperial Govern- 
ment that representations have been made to His Britannic 
Majesty's Government in respect to the unwarranted use of 
the American flag for the protection of British ships." 



Bryan 



Germany Offers 
Conditional Modifications of 
Submarine Blockade 



T TNDER date February i6, 191 5, the German Foreign 
^ Office repeated that the German Government was 
forced into its contemplated action through certain acts of its 
enemies contrary to "grave violations of international law." 
"It is conceded," continues the German note, "that the 
intention of all these aggressions is to cut oflF Germany from 
all supplies and thereby to deliver up to death by famine a 
peaceful civilian population, a procedure contrary to law 
of war and every dictate of humanity. 

"The neutrals have not been able to prevent this inter- 
ception of different kinds of trade with Germany contrary 
to international law. It is true that the American Govern- 
ment have protested against England's procedure, and 
Germany is glad to acknowledge this, but in spite of this 
protest and the protests of the other neutral Governments 
England has not allowed herself to be dissuaded from the 
course originally adopted. Thus, the American ship Wil- 
helmina was recently brought into port by England, al- 
though her cargo was destined solely for the civil population 
of Germany and was to be used only for this purpose, ac- 
cording to an express declaration of the German Govern- 
ment. 

"In this way the following has been created: Germany 
is to all intents and purposes cut off from oversea supplies 
with the toleration, tacit or protesting, of the neutrals, re- 
gardless of whether it is a question of goods which are 

[24] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



absolute contraband or only conditional contraband or not 
contraband at all, following the law generally recognized 
before the outbreak of the war. On the other hand England 
with the indulgence of neutral Governments is not only 
being provided with such goods as are not contraband or 
merely conditional contraband, namely, foodstuffs, raw 
material, et cetera, although these are treated by England 
when Germany is in question as absolute contraband, but 
also with goods which have been regularly and unques- 
tionably acknowledged to be absolute contraband. The 
German Government believe that they are obliged to point 
out very particularly and with the greatest emphasis, that 
a trade in arms exists between American manufacturers and 
Germany's enemies which is estimated at many hundred 
million marks. 

"The German Government have given due recognition 
to the fact that as a matter of form the exercise of rights 
and the toleration of wrong on the part of neutrals is limited 
by their pleasure alone and involves no formal breach of 
neutrality. The German Government have not in conse- 
quence made any charge of formal breach of neutrality. 
The German Government can not, however, do otherwise, 
especially in the interest of absolute clearness in the rela- 
tions between the two countries, than to emphasize that 
they, in common with the public opinion in Germany, feel 
themselves placed at a great disadvantage through the 
fact that the neutral powers have hitherto achieved no 
success or only an unmeaning success in their assertion of 
the right to trade with Germany, acknowledged to be legiti- 
mate by international law, whereas they make unlimited use 
of their right to tolerate trade in contraband with England 
and our other enemies. Conceded that it is the formal right 
of neutrals not to protect their legitimate trade with Germany 
and even to allow themselves knowingly and willingly to 
be induced by England to restrict such trade, it is on the 
other hand not less their good right, although unfortunately 
not exercised, to stop trade in contraband, especially the 
trade in arms, with Germany's enemies. 

[25] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



"In view of this situation the German Government see 
themselves compelled, after six months of patience and 
watchful waiting, to meet England's murderous method of 
conducting maritime war with drastic counter measures. 
If England invokes the powers of famine as an ally in its 
struggles against Germany, with the intention of leaving a 
civilized people the alternative of perishing in misery or 
submitting to the yoke of England's political and com- 
mercial will, the German Government are today deter- 
mined to take up the gauntlet and to appeal to the same 
grim ally. They rely on the neutrals, who have hitherto 
tacitly or under protest submitted to the consequences, 
detrimental to themselves, of England's war of famine, to 
display not less tolerance toward Germany, even if the 
German measures constitute new forms of maritime war, 
as has hitherto been the case with the Enghsh measures. 

Germany Declares Intention to 
Suppress Supply of all 
War Material to England 

"TN ADDITION to this, the German Government are 
-*- determined to suppress with all the means at their disposal 
the supply of war material to England and her allies and 
assume at the same time that it is a matter of course that the 
neutral Governments which have hitherto undertaken no 
action against the trade in arms which Germany's enemies 
do not intend to oppose the forcible suppression of this 
trade by Germany. 

"Proceeding from these points of view the German 
Admiralty has declared the zone prescribed by it the seat 
of war; it will obstruct this area of maritime war by mines 
wherever possible and also endeavor to destroy the mer- 
chant vessels of the enemy in any other way. 

"It is very far indeed from the intention of the German 
Government, acting in obedience to these compelHng cir- 
cumstances, ever to destroy neutral lives and neutral 
property, but on the other hand they cannot be blind to 
the fact that dangers arise through the action to be carried 

[26] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



out against England which menace without discrimination 
all trade within the area of maritime war. This applies as 
a matter of course to war mines, which place any ship ap- 
proaching a mined area in danger, even if the limits of 
international law are adhered to most strictly. 

"The German Government believe that they are all the 
more justified in the hope tbat the neutral powers will be- 
come reconciled with this, just as they have with the serious 
injury caused them thus far by England's measures, because 
it is their will to do everything in any way compatible with 
the accomplishment of their purpose for the protection of 
neutral shipping, even within the area of maritime war. 

"They furnish the first proof of their good will by an- 
nouncing the measures intended by them at a time not 
less than two weeks beforehand, in order to give neutral 
shipping an opportunity to make the necessary arrange- 
ments to avoid the threatening danger. The safest method 
of doing this is to stay away from the area of maritime 
war. Neutral ships entering the closed waters in spite of 
this announcement, given so far in advance, and which 
seriously impairs the accomplishment of the military purpose 
against England, bear their own responsibiHty for any 
unfortunate accidents. The German Government on their 
side expressly decline all responsibility for such accidents 
and their consequences. 

Germany Will Destroy 
Enemy Merchant Vessels Only 

** "FURTHERMORE, the German Government announced 
-^ merely the destruction of enemy merchant vessels found 
within the area of maritime war, and not the destruction 
of all merchant vessels, as the American Government ap- 
pear to have erroneously understood. This limitation 
which the German Government have imposed upon them- 
selves impairs the military purpose, especially since the 
presumption will prevail, even in the case of neutral ships, 
that they have contraband on board, in view of the inter- 
pretation of the idea of contraband in which the English 

[27] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



Government have indulged as regards Germany and which 
the German Government will accordingly apply against 
England. 

"Naturally the Imperial Government are not willing to 
waive the right to establish the presence of contraband in 
the cargoes of neutral ships and, in cases requiring it, 
to take any action necessary on the grounds estabHshed. 
Finally, the German Government are prepared to accord, 
in conjunction with the American Government, the most 
earnest consideration to any measure that might be calcu- 
lated to insure the safety of legitimate shipping of neutrals 
within the seat of war. They cannot, however, overlook 
the fact that all efforts in this direction are considerably 
hampered by two circumstances: First, by the misuse of 
the neutral flag by English merchant vessels, which in the 
meantime has probably been estabHshed beyond a doubt 
by the American Government likewise. Second, by the 
above-mentioned trade in contraband, especially war 
materials, by neutral merchant vessels. In regard to the 
latter point, the German Government ventures to hope that 
the American Government upon reconsideration will see 
their way clear to a measure of intervention in accordance 
with the spirit of true neutrality. * * * 

Requests the United States to 

Convoy Ships Carrying Peaceful Cargoes 

** TN ORDER to meet in the safest manner all the conse- 
-^ quences of mistaking an American for a hostile merchant 
vessel, the German Government recommended that (al- 
though this would not apply in the case of danger from 
mines) the United States convoy their ships carrying 
peaceable cargoes and traversing the English seat of mari- 
time war in order to make them recognizable. In this con- 
nection the German Government believe it should be made 
a condition that only such ships should be convoyed as 
carry no merchandise which would have to be considered 
as contraband according to the interpretation applied by 
England against Germany. The German Government are 

[28] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



prepared to enter into immediate negotiations with the 
American Government relative to the manner of convoy. 
They would, however, be particularly grateful if the Ameri- 
can Government would urgently advise their merchant 
vessels to avoid the English seat of maritime war, at any 
rate until the flag question is settled. * * * Should 
the American Government at the eleventh hour succeed in 
removing, by virtue of the weight which they have the 
right and ability to throw into the scales of the fate of 
peoples, the reasons which have made it the imperative 
duty of the German Government to take the action indi- 
cated, should the American Government in particular find 
a way to bring about the observation of the Declaration of 
London on the part of the Powers at war with Germany and 
thereby to render possible for Germany the legitimate sup- 
ply of foodstuffs and industrial raw materials, the German 
Government would recognize this as a service which could 
not be too highly estimated in favor of more humane conduct 
of war and would gladly draw the necessary conclusions 
from the new situation thus created." 



VON Jagow 



Great Britain Explains the 
Use of the American Flag 



/'^OMPLAINTS in the German notes against the use of 
^-^ the American flag by British merchant vessels to es- 
cape attack were laid before the British Government by 
the American Secretary of State under date February lo, 
191 5. Such usage was justified by Sir Edward Grey, 
British Minister for Foreign Affairs, in a note February 19. 
It was stated that Great Britain when neutral had always 
accorded the use of its flag to merchant vessels of 
belligerent nations for the same purpose. He asserted 
that the obligations of a belligerent warship to ascertain 
for itself the nationality of a merchant vessel was suffic- 
ient protection. 

[ 29 ] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



United States Seeks 

Mutual Concessions Regarding 

Mines and Food Stuffs 

UNDER date February 20, 1915, the American Secretary 
of State Bryan sent identic notes through its Ambas- 
sadors to the Governments of Great Britain and Germany, 
seeking the following mutual concessions for the protection 
of neutral shippings: 

"Germany and Great Britain to Agree: 

"i. That neither will sow any floating mines, whether 
upon the high seas or in territorial waters; that neither 
will plant on the high seas anchored mines except within 
cannon range of harbors, for defensive purposes only; 
and that all mines shall bear the stamp of the Govern- 
ment planting them and be so constructed as to become 
harmless if separated from their moorings. 

"2. That neither will use submarines to attack mer- 
chant vessels of any nationality except to enforce the 
right of visit and search. 

''3. That each will require their respective merchant 
vessels not to use neutral flags for the purpose of dis- 
guise or ruse de guerre. 

"Germany to Agree: 

"That all importations of food or foodstuff's from the 
United States and (from such other neutral countries as 
may ask it) into Germany shall be consigned to agencies 
to be designated by the United States Government; 
that these American agencies shall have entire charge 
and control, without interference on the part of the 
German Government, of the receipt and distribution 
of such importations, and shall distribute them solely 
to retail dealers bearing licenses from the German 
Government entitling them to receive and furnish 
such food and foodstuff's to noncombatants only; 
that any violation of the terms of the retailers' licenses 

[30] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



shall work a forfeiture of their rights to receive such 
food and foodstuffs for this purpose; and that such 
food and foodstuffs will not be requisitioned by the 
German Government for any purpose whatsoever or 
be diverted to the use of the armed forces of Germany. 

"Great Britain to Agree: 

"That food and foodstuffs will not be placed upon the 
absolute contraband Hst and that shipments of such 
commodities will not be interfered with or detained by 
British authorities if consigned to agencies designated 
by the United States Government in Germany for the 
receipt and distribution of such cargoes to licensed 
German retailers for distribution solely to the non- 
combatant population. 

"In submitting this proposed basis of agreement this 
Government does not wish to be understood as admitting 
or denying any belligerent or neutral right established by 
the principles of international law, but would consider 
the agreement, if acceptable to the interested powers, a 
■modus Vivendi based upon expediency rather than legal 
right and as not binding upon the United States either in 
its present form or in a modified form until accepted by this 
Government." 

The Replies of the 
Belligerent Governments 

'T^HE German Government in a dispatch of March i, 191 5, 

•*- insisted upon the right to use submarines against 

mercantile marine to enforce the right of visit and search. 

"The German Government would undertake not to use their 
submarines to attack mercantile of any flag except when 
necessary to enforce the right of visit and search. Should 
the enemy nationality of the vessel or the presence of 
contraband be ascertained, submarine would proceed in 
accordance with the general rules of international law." 

[31] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



It refused to admit the right of mercantile vessels of bel- 
ligerents to be armed, denied the right of belligerents to use 
neutral flags and insisted on the admission of foodstufi^s 
and other commodities needed by the civilian population. 

The British and French replies denied the legality of sub- 
marine attacks on merchant ships and declared that in 
retaliation for German methods of sea warfare they must 
frame measures to prevent commodities of any kind from 
entering or reaching Germany. Assuring the safety of 
neutral life and property, it was announced: 

"The British and French Governments will therefore hold 
themselves free to detain and take into port ships carrying 
goods of presumed enemy destination, ownership or origin. 
It is not intended to confiscate such vessels or cargoes 
unless they would otherwise be liable to condemnation." 

The American Government entered into a protracted cor- 
respondence with the British and French Governments in 
protest against the stoppage of ships bound to and from 
neutral ports or carrying only conditional contraband. 
A note to Great Britain March 30, 191 5, declared: 

"The Government of the United States is, of course, not 
oblivious to the great changes which have occurred in the 
conditions and means of naval warfare since the rules 
hitherto governing legal blockade were formulated. It 
might be ready to admit that the old formof *close' blockade, 
with its cordon of ships in the immediate offing of the 
blockaded ports, is no longer practicable in face of an enemy 
possessing the means and opportunity to make an effective 
defense by the use of submarine, mines and air craft; but 
it can hardly be maintained that, whatever form of effec- 
tive blockade may be made use of, it is impossible to con- 
form at least to the spirit and principles of the established 
rules of war," but concludes: 

"As stated in its communication of October 22, 1914, *this 
Government will insist that the rights and duties of the 
United States and its citizens in the present war be defined 
by the existing rules of international law and the treaties of 

[32] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



the United States, irrespective of the provisions of the 
Declaration of London, and that this Government reserve 
to itself the right to enter a protest or demand in each 
case in which those rights and duties so defined are violated 
or their free exercise interfered with by the authorities of 
the British Government.* '* 

Acquiescence 
Charged by Germany 

TDASING his complaint particularly on the seizure by 
■^ British authorities of a cargo of grain bound for 
German consignees, the German Ambassador presented a 
memorandum to the American Secretary of State of April 
4, 191 5. It was asserted that in spite of an assurance 
from the German Government guaranteeing that all Ameri- 
can grain should be devoted entirely to civilian consump- 
tion, the United States Government had failed to obtain 
a release of the vessel in eight months. 

"Such a long delay, especially in matters of food supply, 
is equivalent to entire denial. 

"The Imperial Embassy must therefore assume that the 
United States Government acquiesces in the violations of 
international law by Great Britain." 

Further protest was made on the exportation of arms to 
the allies. 

Denial of German Charges of 
Acquiescence 

** I ^HE charges contained in this note were denied in a note 
-■- from the Secretary of State, April 21, 191 5, which said 
in part; 

"This Government has at no time and in no manner yielded 
any one of its rights as a neutral to any of the present 
belligerents. It has acknowledged, as a matter of course, 
the right of visit and search and the right to apply the rules 
of contraband of war to articles of commerce. It has, in- 
deed, insisted upon the use of visit and search as an abso- 

[83] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



lutely necessary safeguard against mistaking neutral vessels 
for vessels owned by an enemy and against mistaking legal 
cargoes for illegal. It has admitted also the right of blockade 
if actually exercised and effectively maintained. These 
are merely the well-known limitations which war places 
upon neutral commerce on the high seas. But nothing 
beyond these has it conceded. I call Your Excellency's 
attention to this, notwithstanding it is already known to 
all the world as a consequence of the publication of our 
correspondence in regard to these matters with several 
of the belligerent nations, because I can not assume that 
you have official cognizance of it. 

"In the second place, this Government attempted to secure 
from the German and British Governments mutual con- 
cessions with regard to the measures those Governments 
respectively adopted for the interruption of trade on the 
high seas. This it did, not of right, but merely as exercising 
the privileges of a sincere friend of both parties and as indi- 
cating its impartial good will. The attempt was unsuccess- 
ful; but I regret that Your Excellency did not deem it 
worthy of mention in modification of the impressions you 
expressed. We had hoped that this act on our part had 
shown our spirit in these times of distressing war as our 
diplomatic correspondence had shown our steadfast re- 
fusal to acknowledge the right of any beUigerent to alter 
the accepted rules of war at sea in so far as they affect the 
rights and interests of neutrals. 

U. S. Refuses to 
Consider the 
Placing of an 
Embargo on Arms 

" TN THE third place, I note with sincere regret that, in 
■*• discussing the sale and exportation of arms by citizens of 
the United States to the enemies of Germany, Your Ex- 
cellency seems to be under the impression that it was within 
the choice of the Government of the United States, not- 
withstanding its professed neutrality and its diHgent efforts 

[ 34] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



to maintain it in other particulars, to inhibit this trade, 
and that its failure to do so manifested an unfair attitude 
toward Germany. This Government holds, as I believe 
Your Excellency is aware, and as it is constrained to hold 
in view of the present indisputable doctrines of accepted 
international law, that any change in its own laws of neu- 
trality during the progress of a war which would affect 
unequally the relations of the United States with the 
nations at war would be an unjustifiable departure from the 
principle of strict neutrality by which it has consistently 
sought to direct its actions, and I respectfully submit that 
none of the circumstances urged in Your Excellency's 
memorandum alters the principle involved. The placing 
of an embargo on the trade in arms at the present time 
would constitute such a change and be a direct violation 
of the neutraHty of the United States. It will, I feel as- 
sured, be clear to Your Excellency that, holding this view 
and considering itself in honor bound by it, it is out of the 
question for this Government to consider such a course." 



[35 1 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



(Tl: 



ERMANY'S SUBMARINE WARFARE 

'' I ^HE FALABA, a British steamer, was sunk by a German 
■*■ submarine, March 28, 191 5, with the loss of one 
American Hfe. 

The Gushing, an American vessel, was attacked by a 
German aeroplane, March 28. 

The Gulflight an American vessel, was torpedoed May i, 
with the loss of two American lives. 

On May 7, the Lusitania, sailing from New York to 
Liverpool, was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine, 
with the loss of more than 1000 lives, over 100 of the victims 
being Americans. 

The American Secretary of State on May 13, forwarded 
a note to the American Ambassador at Berlin, instructing 
him to call upon the German Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
read him the communication and leave with him a copy. 

The Lusitania Note 

npHE note recited that: 

•*- *Tn view of the recent acts of German authorities in 
violation of American rights on the high seas which cul- 
minated in the torpedoing and sinking of the British 
steamship Lusitania on May 7, 191 5, by which over 100 
American citizens lost their lives, it is clearly wise and de- 
sirable that the Government of the United States and the 
Imperial German Government should come to a clear 
understanding as to the grave situation which has resulted." 

The attacks on the Falaba, Gushing, Gulflight and finally 
the Lusitania, are described as a series of events which the 
Government of the United States "has observed with grow- 
ing concern, distress and amazement." 

[36] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



It characterized the attacks as inconsistent with the 
previous attitude of the Imperial German Government in 
matters of international right and particularly with regard 
to freedom of the seas, and the instructions understood to 
have been given to commanders, and expressed belief that 
they were committed without sanction. 

Against the plea of necessity contained in the German sub- 
marine proclamation the note set the "strict accounta- 
bility" clause and declared the principle of visit and search, 
declaring that: 

"The lives of non-combatants, whether they be of neutral 
citizenship or citizens of one of the nations at war, cannot 
lawfully or rightfully be put in jeopardy by the capture or 
destruction of an unarmed merchantman.'* 

Reviewing the impossibility of exercise of tne prescribed 
methods of capture by a vessel the size of a submarine, the 
note pointed out that time was not even given for the poor 
measure of safety of placing the passengers and crew in small 
boats, and that in two cases no warning whatever was 
given. 

"Manifestly," the note continued, "submarines cannot 
be used against merchantmen, as the last few weeks have 
shown, without an inevitable violation of many sacred 
principles of justice and humanity. American citizens 
act within their indisputable rights in taking their ships and 
in traveling wherever their legitimate business calls them 
upon the high seas, and exercise those rights in what should 
be the well-justified confidence that their lives will not be 
endangered by acts done in clear violation of universally 
acknowledged international obligations, and certainly in 
the confidence that their own Government will sustain 
them in the exercise of their rights." Continues the note: 

"There was recently published in the newspapers of the 
United States, I regret to inform the Imperial German 
Government, a formal warning, purporting to come from 
the Imperial German Embassy at Washington, addressed 

[87] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



to the people of the United States, and stating, in effect, 
that any citizen of the United States who exercised his 
right of free travel upon the seas would do so at his peril if 
his journey should take him within the zone of waters 
within which the Imperial German Navy was using sub- 
marines against the commerce of Great Britain and France, 
notwithstanding the respectful but very earnest protest of 
his Government, the Government of the United States. 
I do not refer to this for the purpose of calling the attention 
of the Imperial German Government at this time to the 
surprising irregularity of a communication from the Im- 
perial German Embassy at Washington addressed to the 
people of the United States through the newspapers, but 
only for the purpose of pointing out that no warning that 
an unlawful and inhumane act will be committed can possi- 
bly be accepted as an excuse or palliation for that act or 
as an abatement of the responsibility for its commission. 

"Long acquainted as this Government has been with the 
character of the Imperial German Government and with 
the high principles of equity by which they have in the past 
been actuated and guided, the Government of the United 
States can not believe that the commanders of the vessels 
which committed these acts of lawlessness did so except 
under a misapprehension of the orders issued by the Im- 
perial German naval authorities. It takes it for granted 
that, at least within the practical possibilities of every such 
case, the commanders even of submarines were expected to 
do nothing that would involve the lives of noncombatants 
or the safety of neutral ships, even at the cost of failing of 
their object of capture or destruction. It confidently ex- 
pects, therefore, that the Imperial German Government will 
disavow the acts of which the Government of the United 
States complains, that they will make reparation so far as 
reparation is possible for injuries which are without measure, 
and they will take immediate steps to prevent the recurrence 
of anything so obviously subversive of the principles of war- 
fare for which the Imperial German Government have in 
the past so wisely and so firmly contended. 

[38] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



"The Government and people of the United States look to 
the Imperial German Government for just, prompt, and en- 
lightened action in this vital matter with the greater con- 
fidence, because the United States and Germany are bound 
together not only by special ties of friendship but also by 
the explicit stipulations of the treaty of 1828 between the 
United States and the Kingdom of Prussia. 

"Expressions of regret and offers of reparation in case of 
the destruction of neutral ships sunk by mistake, while 
they may satisfy international obligation, if no loss of life 
results, can not justify or excuse a practice, the natural and 
necessary effect of which is to subject neutral nations and 
neutral persons to new and immeasurable risks. 

"The Imperial German Government will not expect the 
Government of the United States to omit any word or any 
act necessary to the performance of its sacred duty of main- 
taining the rights of the United States and its citizens and of 
safeguarding their free exercise and enjoyment." 

Bryan 

German Reply to 
LusiTANiA Disaster 

npHE reply of the German Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
-^ May 28, 191 5, charged that the Lusitania was armed, 
that she carried large quantities of ammunition and that 
American passengers were being made a shield, and had 
been sacrificed by the steamship company through placing 
ammunition where it might explode and hasten sinking of 
the vessel. It sought assistance of the United States 
Government in obtaining concessions from Great Britain 
before satisfaction was accorded for the loss of neutral life 
and property. The note dismissed the Gushing and Gulflight 
affairs as accidents, and extended the assurance of indemnity 
in such cases. In the case of the Falaba, it was asserted 
that the captain had sought to flee. These cases were dis- 
missed before taking up the greater catastrophe. Of this 
the note said : 

[39] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



"With regard to the loss of Hfe when the British passenger 
steamer Lusitania was sunk, the German Government has 
already expressed its deep regret to the neutral Govern- 
ments concerned that nationals of those countries lost their 
lives on that occasion. The Imperial Government must 
state for the rest the impression that certain important 
facts most directly connected with the sinking of the Lusi- 
tania may have escaped the attention of the Government 
of the United States. It therefore considers it necessary in 
the interest of the clear and full understanding aimed at by 
either Government primarily to convince itself that the 
reports of the facts which are before the two Governments 
are complete and in agreement. 

"The Government of the United States proceeds on the 
assumption that the Lusitania is to be considered as an 
ordinary unarmed merchant vessel. The Imperial Govern- 
ment begs in this connection to point out that the Lusitania 
was one of the largest and fastest English commerce steam- 
ers, constructed with Government funds as auxiliary 
cruisers, and is expressly included in the navy list published 
by the British Admiralty. It is moreover known to the Im- 
perial Government from reliable information furnished 
by its officials and neutral passengers that for some time 
practically all the more valuable English merchant vessels 
have been provided with guns, ammunition, and other 
weapons, and reinforced with a crew specially practiced in 
manning guns. According to reports at hand here, the 
Lusitania, when she left New York, undoubtedly had guns 
on board which were mounted under decks and masked. 

"The Imperial Government furthermore has the honor 
to direct the particular attention of the American Govern- 
ment to the fact that the British Admiralty by a secret 
instruction of February of this year advised the British 
merchant marine not only to seek protection behind neutral 
flags and markings, but even when so disguised to attack 
German submarines by ramming them. High rewards 
have been offered by the British Government as a special 
incentive for the destruction of the submarines by merchant 

[40] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



vessels, and such rewards have already been paid out. 
In view of these facts, which are satisfactorily known to it, 
the Imperial Government is unable to consider English 
merchant vessels any longer as ^undefended territory' in 
the zone of maritime war designated by the Admiralty 
Staff of the Imperial German Navy; the German com- 
manders are consequently no longer in a position to observe 
the rules of capture otherwise usual and with which they 
invariably complied before this. Lastly, the Imperial 
Government must specially point out that on her last trip 
the Lusitania, as on earlier occasions, had Canadian troops 
and munitions on board, including no less than 5,400 cases 
of ammunition destined for the destruction of brave German 
soldiers who are fulfilling with self-sacrifice and devotion 
their duty in the service of the Fatherland. The German 
Government beheves that it acts in just self-defense when 
it seeks to protect the lives of its soldiers by destroying am- 
munition destined for the enemy with the means of war at 
its command. The English steamship company must 
have been aware of the dangers to which passengers on 
board the Lusitania were exposed under the circumstances. 
In taking them on board in spite of this the company quite 
deliberately tried to use the lives of American citizens as 
protection for the ammunition carried, and violated the 
clear provisions of American laws which expressly prohibit, 
and provide punishment for, the carrying of passengers on 
ships which have explosives on 'board. The company 
thereby wantonly caused the death of so many passengers. 
According to the express report of the submarine com- 
mander concerned, which is further confirmed by all other 
reports, there can be no doubt that the rapid sinking of the 
Lusitania was primarily due to the explosion of the cargo 
of ammunition caused by the torpedo. Otherwise, in all 
human probability, the passengers of the Lusitania would 
have been saved. 

"The Imperial Government holds the facts recited above 
to be of sufficient importance to recommend them to a care- 
ful examination by the American Government. The Im- 

[41 ] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



perial Government begs to reserve a final statement of its 
position with regard to the demands made in connection 
with the sinking of the Lusitania until a reply is received 
from the American Government, and believes that it should 
recall here that it took note with satisfaction of the propo- 
sals of good offices submitted by the American Government 
in Berlin and London with a view to paving the way for a 
modus Vivendi for the conduct of maritime war between 
Germany and Great Britain. The Imperial Government 
furnished at that time ample evidence of its good will by 
its willingness to consider these proposals. The realization 
'of these proposals failed, as is known, on account of their 
rejection by the Government of Great Britain. 

"The undersigned requests His Excellency, the Ambas- 
sador, to bring the above to the knowledge of the American 
Government, and avails himself of the opportunity to 
renew, etc.'* 

VON Jagow 

This was followed June i by a brief note explaining the 
Gushing and Gulflight attacks as mistakes on the part of 
the German aviator and submarine commander, and offer- 
ing reparation as the facts might warrant. 

United States Denies 
Lusitania Was Armed 

IN A note June 9, 191 5, the Secretary of State accepted 
the Gushing and Gulflight explanations, and offered to 
cooperate in fixing compensation. The assertion that the 
Falaba sought to flee is met; and he denies that the Lusitania 
was armed. It reasserts the rights of neutrals to safety on the 
seas regardless of war zones, and declares the rights of hu- 
manity to be above those of property or privileges of com- 
merce. The portion concerning Falaba and the Lusitania 
follows : 

"With regard to the sinking of the steamer Falaba, by 
which an American citizen lost his life, the Government 

[42] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



of the United States is surprised to find the Imperial Ger- 
man Government contending that an effort on the part of 
a merchantman to escape capture and secure assistance al- 
ters the obligation of the officer seeking to make the cap- 
ture in respect to the safety of the lives of those on board 
the merchantman, although the vessel has ceased her at- 
tempt to escape when torpedoed. These are not new cir- 
cumstances. They have been in the minds of statesmen and 
of international jurists throughout the development of naval 
warfare, and the Government of the United States does not 
understand that they have ever been held to alter the prin- 
ciples of humanity upon which it has insisted. Nothing but 
actual forcible resistance or continued efforts to escape by 
flight when ordered to stop for the purpose of visit on the 
part of the merchantman has ever been held to forfeit the 
lives of her passengers or crew. The Government of the 
United States, however, does not understand that the Im- 
perial German Government is seeking in this case to relieve 
itself of liabiHty, but only intends to set forth the circum- 
stances which led the commander of the submarine to al- 
low himself to be hurried into the course which he took. 

"Your Excellency's note, in discussing the loss of American 
lives resulting from the sinking of the steamship Lusitania, 
adverts at some length to certain information which the 
Imperial German Government has received with regard to 
the character and outfit of that vessel, and Your Excellency 
expresses the fear that this information may not have been 
brought to the attention of the Government of the United 
States. It is stated in the note that the Lusitania was un- 
doubtedly equipped with masked guns, supplied with 
trained gunners and special ammunition, transporting troops 
from Canada, carrying a cargo not permitted under the 
laws of the United States to a vessel also carrying passen- 
gers, and serving, in virtual effect, as an auxiliary to the 
naval forces of Great Britain. Fortunately, these are mat- 
ters concerning which the Government of the United States 
is in a position to give the Imperial German Government 
official information. Of the facts alleged in Your Excel- 

[43] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



lency's note, if true, the Government of the United States 
would have been bound to take official cognizance in perform- 
ing its recognized duty as a neutral power and in enforcing 
its national laws. It was its duty to see to it that the Lusi- 
tania was not armed for offensive action, that she was not 
serving as a transport, that she did not carry a cargo pro- 
hibited by the statutes of the United States, and that, if in 
fact she was a naval vessel of Great Britain, she should not 
receive clearance as a merchantman; and it performed that 
duty and enforced its statutes with scrupulous vigilance 
through its regularly constituted officials. It is able, there- 
fore, to assure the Imperial German Government that it has 
been misinformed. If the Imperial German Government 
should deem itself to be in possession of convincing evi- 
dence that the officials of the Government of the United 
States did not perform these duties with thoroughness, the 
Government of the United States sincerely hopes tha^ it 
will submit that evidence for consideration. 

^'Whatever may be the contentions of the Imperial German 
Government regarding the carriage of contraband of war on 
board the Lusitania or regarding the explosion of that ma- 
terial by the torpedo, it need only be said that in the view 
of this Government these contentions are irrelevant to the 
question of the legality of the methods used by the German 
naval authorities in sinking the vessel. 

"But the sinking of passenger ships involves principles of 
humanity which throw into the background any special cir- 
cumstances of detail that may be thought to affect the cases, 
principles which lift it, as the Imperial German Govern- 
ment will no doubt be quick to recognize and acknowledge, 
out of the class of ordinary subjects of diplomatic discussion 
or of international controversy. Whatever be the other 
facts regarding the Lusitania, the principal fact is that a 
great steamer, primarily and chiefly a conveyance for pas- 
sengers, and carrying more than a thousand souls who had 
no part or lot in the conduct of the war, was torpedoed and 
sunk without so much as a challenge or a warning, and that 
men, women, and children were sent to their death in cir- 

[ 44 ] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



cumstances unparalleled in modern warfare. The fact that 
more than one hundred American citizens were among those 
who perished made it the duty of the Government of the 
United States to speak of these things and once more, with 
solemn emphasis, to call the attention of the Imperial Ger- 
man Government to the grave responsibility which the Gov- 
ernment of the United States conceives that it has incurred 
in this tragic occurrence, and to the indisputable principle 
upon which that responsibility rests. The Government of 
the United States is contending for something much great- 
er than mere rights of property or privileges of commerce. 
It is contending for nothing less high and sacred than the 
rights of humanity, which every Government honors itself 
in respecting and which no Government is justified in re- 
signing on behalf of those under its care and authority. 
Only her actual resistance to capture or refusal to stop 
when ordered to do so for the purpose of visit could have 
afforded the commander of the submarine any justification 
for so much as putting the lives of those on board the ship 
in jeopardy. This principle the Government of the United 
States understands the explicit instructions issued on August 
3, 19 1 4, by the Imperial German Admiralty to its com- 
manders at sea to have recognized and embodied, as do the 
naval codes of all other nations, and upon it every traveler 
and seaman had a right to depend. It is upon this princi- 
ple of humanity as well as upon the law founded upon this 
principle that the United States must stand. 

"The Government of the United States is happy to observe 
that Your Excellency's note closes with the intimation that 
the Imperial German Government is willing, now as before, 
to accept the good offices of the United States in an at- 
tempt to come to an understanding with the Government 
of Great Britain by which the character and conditions of 
the war upon the sea may be changed. The Government 
of the United States would consider it a privilege thus to 
serve its friends and the world. It stands ready at any time 
to convey to either Government any intimation or suggestion 
the other may be willing to have it convey and cordially in- 

[45] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



vites the Imperial German Government to make use of its 
services in this way at its convenience. The whole world is 
concerned in anything that may bring about even a partial 
accommodation of interests or in any way mitigate the ter- 
rors of the present distressing conflict. 

"In the meantime, whatever arrangement may happily be 
made between the parties to the war, and whatever may in 
the opinion of the Imperial German Government have been 
the provocation or the circumstantial justification for the 
past acts of its commanders at sea, the Government of the 
United States confidently looks to see the justice and hu- 
manity of the Government of Germany vindicated in all 
cases where Americans have been wronged or their rights as 
neutrals invaded. 

*'The Government of the United States therefore very 
earnestly and very solemnly renews the representations of 
its note transmitted to the Imperial German Government on 
the 15th of May, and relies in these representations upon 
the principles of humanity, the universally recognized un- 
derstandings of international law, and the ancient friend- 
ship of the German nation. 

"The Government of the United States cannot admit that 
the proclamation of a war zone from which neutral ships 
have been warned to keep away may be made to operate 
as in any degree an abbreviation of the rights either of 
American shipmasters or of American citizens bound on law- 
ful errands as passengers on merchant ships of belligerent 
nationality. It does not understand the Imperial German 
Government to question those rights. It understands it, 
also, to accept as established beyond question the principle 
that the lives of noncombatants can not lawfully or right- 
fully be put in jeopardy by the capture or destruction of an 
unresisting merchantman, and to recognize the obligation 
to take sufficient precaution to ascertain whether a suspected 
merchantman is in fact of belligerent nationality or is in fact 
carrying contraband of war under a neutral flag. The Gov- 
ernment of the United States therefore deems it reason- 

[46] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



able to expect that the Imperial German Government will 
adopt the measures necessary to put these principles into 
practice in respect of the safeguarding of American lives 
and American ships, and asks for assurances that this will 
be done." 

Robert Lansing 
Secretary of State ad Interim 

Germany's Position 
Regarding the Lusitania 

THE response of the German Minister of Foreign Affairs 
to the above note was dated July 8, 191 5. v 

It expressed endorsement of the principles of humanity 
expressed by the American Government, declared that they 
had been cherished by the German Government since the 
treaty of friendship negotiated with the United States in 
1785; cited the willingness of Germany to reaffirm the Dec- 
laration of London for the protection of neutrals at the out- 
set of the war. It charged the enemies of Germany with an 
effort to starve out that country by interrupting peaceful 
traffic, and reiterated that submarine warfare was Ger- 
many's only means of salvation under the circumstances. 
It declared that with every regard for the rights of neu- 
trals, its first and sacred duty was to safeguard the lives 
of German subjects. Citing the Lusitania affair, it out- 
lined the German idea of a method of protecting neutrals 
in future. The German note continues: 

The Case of the Lusitania 

**npHE case of the Lusitania shows with horrible clearness 
-'- to what jeopardizing of human lives the manner of 
conducting war employed by our adversaries leads. In most 
direct contradiction of international law, all distinctions be- 
tween merchantmen and war vessels have been obliterated 
by the order to British merchantmen to arm themselves 
and to ram submarines and the promise of rewards therefor; 
and neutrals who use merchantmen as travelers have there- 

[47] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



by been exposed in an increasing degree to all the dangers 
of war. If the commander of the German submarine which 
destroyed the Lusitania had caused the crew and travelers 
to put out in boats before firing the torpedo this would 
have meant the sure destruction of his own vessel. After 
the experiences in the sinking of much smaller and less sea- 
worthy vessels, it was to be expected that a mighty ship like 
the Lusitania would remain above water long enough, even 
after the torpedoing, to permit the passengers to enter the 
ship's boats. Circumstances of a very peculiar kind, espe- 
cially the presence on board of large quantities of highly ex- 
plosive materials, defeated this expectation. In addition, it 
may be pointed out that if the Lusitania had been spared 
thousands of cases of ammunition would have been sent to 
Germany's enemies and thereby thousands of German moth- 
ers and children robbed of their supporters. 

"In the spirit of friendship with which the German nation 
has been imbued toward the Union and its inhabitants since 
the earliest days of its existence, the Imperial Government 
will always be ready to do all it can, during the present war 
also, to prevent the jeopardizing of the lives of American 
citizens. 

"The Imperial Government therefore repeats the assur- 
ances that American ships will not be hindered in the prose- 
cution of legitimate shipping, and the lives of American citi- 
zens on neutral vessels shall not be placed in jeopardy. 

"In order to exclude any unforeseen dangers to American 
passenger steamers, made possible in view of the conduct of 
maritime war on the part of Germany's adversaries, the Ger- 
man submarines will be instructed to permit the free and 
safe passage of such passenger steamers when made recog- 
nizable by special markings and notified a reasonable time 
in advance. The Imperial Government, however, confident- 
ly hopes that the American Government will assume the 
guarantee that these vessels have no contraband on board. 
The details of the arrangements for the unhampered passage 
of these vessels would have to be agreed upon by the naval 
authorities of both sides. 

[ 48 ] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



"In order to furnish adequate facilities for travel across 
the Atlantic Ocean for American citizens, the German Gov- 
ernment submits for consideration a proposal to increase the 
number of available steamers by installing in the passenger 
service a reasonable number of neutral steamers, the exact 
number to be agreed upon, under the American flag under 
the same conditions as the American steamers above men- 
tioned. 

"The Imperial Government believes that it can assume 
that in this manner adequate facilities for travel across the 
Atlantic Ocean can be afforded American citizens. There 
would therefore appear to be no compelling necessity for 
American citizens to travel to Europe in time of war on 
ships carrying an enemy flag. In particular the Imperial 
Government is unable to admit that American citizens can 
protect an enemy ship through the mere fact of their pres- 
ence on board. Germany merely followed England's exam- 
ple when it declared part of the high seas an area of war. 
Consequently accidents suffered by neutrals on enemy ships 
in this area of war can not well be judged differently from 
accidents to which neutrals are at all times exposed at the 
seat of war on land when they betake themselves into 
dangerous localities in spite of previous warning. 

"If, however, it should not be possible for the American 
Government to acquire an adequate number of neutral pas- 
senger steamers, the Imperial Government is prepared to 
interpose no objections to the placing under the American 
flag by the American Government of four enemy passen- 
ger steamers for the passenger traffic between America and 
England. The assurances of 'free and safe' passage for 
American passenger steamers would then be extended to 
apply under the identical pre-conditions to these formerly 
hostile passenger ships. 

"The President of the United States has declared his readi- 
ness, in a way deserving of thanks, to communicate and 
suggest proposals to the Government of Great Britain with 
particular reference to the alteration of maritime war. The 
Imperial Government will always be glad to make use of 

[49] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



the good offices of the President, and hopes that his efforts 
in the present case, as well as in the direction of the lofty 
ideal of the freedom of the seas, will lead to an understand- 
ing. 

"The undersigned requests the Ambassador to bring the 
above to the knowledge of the American Government, and 
avail himself of the opportunity to renew to His Excellency 
the assurance of his most distinguished consideration." 

VON Jagow 

The United States' Reply to 

German Lusitania Note 

Department of State 
Washington, July 21, 191 5 

**'T^HE note of the Imperial German Government, dated 
-*- the 8th of July, 191 5, has received the careful con- 
sideration of the Government of the United States, and it 
regrets to be obliged to say that it has found it very un- 
satisfactory, because it fails to meet the real differences 
between the two Governments and indicates no way in 
which the accepted principles of law and humanity may be 
applied in the grave matter in controversy, but proposes, on 
the contrary, arrangements for a partial suspension of those 
principles which virtually set them aside. 

"The Government of the United States notes with satis- 
faction that the Imperial German Government recognizes 
without reservation the validity of the principles insisted on 
in the several communications which this Government has 
addressed to the Imperial German Government with regard 
to its announcement of a war zone and the use of submarines 
against merchantmen on the high seas — the principle that 
the high seas are free, that the character and cargo of a 
merchantman must first be ascertained before she can law- 
fully be seized or destroyed, and that the lives of non-com- 
batants may in no case be put in jeopardy unless the ves- 
sel resists or seeks to escape after being summoned to sub- 
mit to examination; for a belligerent act of retaliation is 

[50] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



per se an act beyond the law, and the defense of an act as 
retaliatory is an admission that it is illegal. 

"The Government of the United States is, however, keenly 
disappointed to find that the Imperial German Govern- 
ment regards itself as in large degree exempt from the obli- 
gation to observe these principles, even where neutral ves- 
sels are concerned, by what it believes the policy and prac- 
tice of the Government of Great Britain to be in the present 
war with regard to neutral commerce. The Imperial Ger- 
man Government will readily understand that the Govern- 
ment of the United States cannot discuss the policy of the 
Government of Great Britain with regard to neutral trade 
except with that Government itself, and that it must re-, 
gard the conduct of other belligerent Governments as irrele- 
vant to any discussion with the Imperial German Govern- 
ment of what this Government regards as grave and unjusti- 
fiable violations of the rights of American citizens by Ger- 
man naval commanders. Illegal and inhuman acts, how- 
ever justifiable they may be thought to be against an enemy 
who is believed to have acted in contravention of law and 
humanity, are manifestly indefensible when they deprive 
neutrals of their acknowledged rights, particularly when 
they violate the right to life itself. If a belligerent can not 
retaliate against an enemy without injuring the lives of neu- 
trals, as well as their property, humanity as well as justice, 
and a due regard for the dignity of neutral powers, should 
dictate that the practice be discontinued. If persisted in, it 
would in such circumstances constitute an unpardonable of- . 
fense against the sovereignty of the neutral nation affected. 

"The Government of the United States is not unmindful of 
the extraordinary conditions created by this war or of the 
radical alterations of circumstance and method of attack 
produced by the use of instrumentalities of naval warfare 
which the nations of the world can not have had in view 
when the existing rules of international law were formu- 
lated, and it is ready to make every reasonable allowance 
for these novel and unexpected aspects of war at sea; but it 
can not consent to abate any essential or fundamental right 

[51 ] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



of its people because of a mere alteration of circumstance. 
The rights of neutrals in time of war are based upon principle, 
not upon expediency, and the principles are immutable. It 
is the duty and obligation of belligerents to find a way to 
adapt the new circumstances to them. 

"The events of the past two months have clearly indicated 
that it is possible and practicable to conduct such submarine 
operations as have characterized the activity of the Im- 
perial German Navy within the so-called war zone in sub- 
stantial accord with the accepted practices of regulated war- 
fare. The whole world has looked with interest and in- 
creasing satisfaction at the demonstration of that possibility 
by German naval commanders. It is manifestly possible, 
therefore, to lift the whole practice of submarine attack 
above the criticism which it has aroused and remove the 
chief causes of offense. 

"In view of the admission of illegality made by the Impe- 
rial Government when it pleaded the right of retaliation in 
defense of its acts, and in view of the manifest possibility 
of conforming to the established rules of naval warfare, the 
Government of the United States can not believe that the 
Imperial Government will longer refrain from disavowing the 
wanton act of its naval commander in sinking the Lusi- 
tania or from offering reparation for the American lives 
lost, so far as reparation can be made for a needless destruc- 
tion of human life by an illegal act. 

"The Government of the United States, while not indiffer- 
ent to the friendly spirit in which it is made, can not accept 
the suggestion of the Imperial German Government that 
certain vessels be designated and agreed upon which shall 
be free on the seas now illegally proscribed. The very agree- 
ment would, by implication, subject other vessels to illegal 
attack and would be a curtailment and therefore an aban- 
donment of the principles for which this Government con- 
tends and which in times of calmer counsels every nation 
would concede as of course. 

"The Government of the United States and the Imperial 
German Government are contending for the same great 

[52] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



object, have long stood together in urging the very princi- 
ples upon which the Government of the United States now 
so solemnly insists. They are both contending for the free- 
dom of the seas. The Government of the United States 
will continue to contend for that freedom, from whatever 
quarter violated, without compromise and at any cost. It 
invites the practical cooperation of the Imperial German 
Government at this time when cooperation may accomplish 
most and this great common object be most strikingly and 
effectively achieved. 

"The Imperial German Government expresses the hope that 
this object may be in some measure accomplished even be- 
fore the present war ends. It can be. The Government of 
the United States not only feels obliged to insist upon it, by 
whomsoever violated or ignored, in the protection of its own 
citizens, but is also deeply interested in seeing it made 
practicable between the belligerents themselves, and holds 
itself ready at any time to act as the common friend who 
may be privileged to suggest a way. 

"In the meantime the very value which this Government 
sets upon the long and unbroken friendship between the 
people and Government of the United States and the people 
and Government of the German nation impels it to press very 
solemnly upon the Imperial German Government the neces- 
sity for a scrupulous observance of neutral rights in this 
critical matter. Friendship itself prompts it to say to the 
Imperial Government that repetition by the commanders of 
German naval vessels of acts in contravention of those rights 
must be regarded by the Government of the United States, 
when they aflPect American citizens, as deliberately un- 
friendly." 

Lansing 
Germany Defines 
Course of Action 
Toward Neutral Vessels 

'T^WO days after the sinking of the Lusitania and before 
-*- the American note of protest was dispatched, the Ger- 

[53 ] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



man foreign office sent the following, offering to modify its 
submarine and airship policy for the benefit of neutrals: 

"i. Imperial German Government has naturally no in- 
tention of causing to be attacked by submarines 
or aircraft such neutral ships of commerce in the 
zone of naval warfare, more definitely described in 
the notice of the German Admiralty Staff of February 
4, last, as have been guilty of no hostile act; on the 
contrary, the most definite instructions have repeat- 
edly been issued to German war vessels to avoid at- 
tacks on such ships under all circumstances. Even when 
such ships have contraband of war on board, they are 
dealt with by submarines solely according to the rules 
of international law applying to prize warfare. 

"2. Should a neutral ship, nevertheless, come to harm 
through German submarines or aircraft on account 
of an unfortunate ( * * * )^ in the above- 
mentioned zone of naval warfare, the German Gov- 
ernment will unreservedly recognize its responsibility 
therefor. In such a case it will express its regrets 
and afford damages without first instituting a prize 
court action. 

"3. It is the custom of the German Government, as 
soon as the sinking of a neutral ship in the above- 
mentioned zone of naval warfare is ascribed to German 
war vessels, to institute an immediate investigation 
into the cause. If grounds appear thereby to be given 
for assuming such a hypothesis, the German Navy 
places itself in communication with the interested 
neutral government, so that the latter may also in- 
stitute an investigation. If the German Government 
is thereby convinced that the ship has been destroyed 
by German war vessels, it will not delay in carrying 
out the provisions of paragraph two, above. In case 
the German government, contrary to the viewpoint 
of the neutral government, is not convinced by the 
result of the investigation, the German Government 

1 Apparent omission. 

[ 54 ] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



has already on several occasions declared itself ready 
to allow the question to be decided by an international 
investigation commission according to chapter three 
of the Hague Convention of October i8, 1907, for 
the peaceful solution of international disputes." 

The Sinking of United States 
Ships by Submarines 

nr^HE American steamer Nebraskan was attacked by a 
■^ submarine off Ireland May 25, 191 5. The German 
foreign office sent a communication through Ambassador 
Gerard July 12, declaring a mistake had been made and 
offering compensation. 

The American ship Leelanaw, Archangel to Belfast, with 
flax, was sunk off Dundee, Scotland, July 27, by a sub- 
marine, which afterward towed the crew in boats ninety 
miles toward shore. This matter was settled satisfactorily 
to both Governments. 

An attack on the English passenger steamer Orduna, July 
9, brought an acknowledgment from Minister von Jagow, 
September 9, admitting that instructions had been dis- 
obeyed by the submarine commander. 

The failure to observe the instructions was ascribed to 
an error which is at any rate comprehensible and the repe- 
tition of which appears to be out of the question, in view 
of the more explicit instructions issued in the meantime. 

The British passenger steamer Arabic with Americans 
among the passengers, was sunk by a German submarine 
August 19, 191 5, 60 miles south of Kinsale, Ireland. Com- 
mander Rudolph Schneider of the submarine, reported that 
he had first stopped another steamer, the Dunsley, and that 
when the Arabic appeared in sight, he supposed she was 
about to ram his craft. This story was disputed by the 
crews and passengers of the Arabic and Dunsley. 



[55] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



German Embassy 
Washington, September i, 191 5 
"My dear Mr. Secretary: 

"With reference to our conversation of this morning I beg 
to inform you that my instructions concerning our answer 
to your last Lusitania note contains the following passage: 

Liners will not be sunk by our submarines without 
warning and without safety of the lives of noncombat- 
ants, provided that the liners do not try to escape or 
offer resistance. 
"Although I know that you do not wish to discuss the 
Lusitania question till the Arabic incident has been definite- 
ly and satisfactorily settled, I desire to inform you of the 
above because this poHcy of my Government was decided 
on before the Arabic incident occurred. 

"I have no objection to your making any use you may 
please of the above information. I remain, etc." 

J. Bernstorff 

On October 5, 191 5, the German Ambassador wrote the 
Secretary of State, announcing the disavowal of the sinking 
of the Arabic, and offering to pay indemnities for the Ameri- 
can lives lost. It was again stated that orders had been 
made so stringent that such a thing could not occur again. 

This note was acknowledged October 6, with an expression 
of gratification on the part of the American Government. 

On January 7, 1916, Ambassador Bernstorff presented 
to the Secretary of State communications from the German 
Government giving its views on submarine conditions and 
policies. Especially strict instructions were declared to have 
been issued regarding warnings and precautions for safety 
of passengers on steamers in the Mediterranean, with as- 
surance of punishment for commanders who disobeyed in- 
structions and the promise to report every sinking. At the 
same time, the German Government reiterated that Ameri- 
can passengers were being used as a shield to protect con- 
traband British traffic. 

[56] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



The American Government Proposes 
International Submarine Rules 

/^N January i8, 1916, and immediately subsequent dates, 
^^ the American Secretary of State forwarded to the British, 
French, Russian and Italian Ambassadors, the Belgian Min- 
ister and the Japanese Ambassador, an identic note pro- 
posing the following rules for the protection of neutral 
ocean traffic in view of the submarine situation: 

"i. A noncombatant has a right to traverse the high seas 
in a merchant vessel entitled to fly a beUigerent flag 
and to rely upon the observance of the rules of in- 
ternational law and principles of humanity if the 
vessel is approached by a naval vessel of another 
belligerent. 

"2. A merchant vessel of enemy nationality should not 
be attacked without being ordered to stop. 

"3. An enemy merchant vessel, when ordered to do so 
by a belHgerent submarine, should immediately stop. 

"4. Such vessel should not be attacked after being ordered 
to stop unless it attempts to flee or to resist, and in 
case it ceases to flee or resist, the attack should dis- 
continue. 

"5. In the event that it is impossible to place a prize crew 
on board of an enemy merchant vessel or convoy it into 
port, the vessel may be sunk, provided the crew and 
passengers have been removed to a place of safety." 

The note contained this comment: 

*Tf a submarine is required to stop and search a merchant 
vessel on the high seas and, in case it is found that she is of 
enemy character and that conditions necessitate her de- 
struction, to remove to a place of safety all persons on 
board, it would not seem just or reasonable that the sub- 
marine should be compelled, while complying with these re- 
quirements, to expose itself to almost certain destruction by 
the guns on board the merchant vessel. 

*Tt would, therefore, appear to be a reasonable and recipro- 
cally just arrangement if it could be agreed by the opposing 

[57] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



belligerents that submarines should be caused to adhere 
strictly to the rules of international law in the matter of 
stopping and searching merchant vessels, determining their 
belligerent nationality, and removing the crews and passen- 
gers to places of safety before sinking the vessels as prizes 
of war, and that merchant vessels of belligerent nationality 
should be prohibited and prevented from carrying any ar- 
mament whatsoever." 

These suggestions were declined in notes from the va- 
rious powers, dated March 22 and 23. The British note 
contained the following, which was similarly expressed in 
the others: 

"Great Britain is unable to agree that upon a non-guar- 
anteed German promise, human life may be surrendered de- 
fenseless to the mercy of an enemy who, in circumstances 
of this kind as in many others, has shown himself to be both 
faithless and lawless. 

"At the end of his letter, the Honorable Secretary of 
State hypothetically considered the possibility of eventual 
decisions under which armed merchant vessels might be 
treated as auxiliary cruisers. 

"It is His Britannic Majesty's Government's conviction 
that the realization of such a hypothesis which would ma- 
terially modify, to Germany's advantage, the statement of 
views published in this respect by the American Govern- 
ment on September 19, 1914, cannot be given practical 
consideration by the American authorities." 

The United States accepted this attitude with regret. 

Germany Protests 

Against Armed Merchantmen 

UNDER date February 14, 1916, Germany sent a commu- 
nication renewing its charges that British merchant 
ships had been instructed to arm for offensive warfare on 
submarines. This was accompanied by a large number of 
exhibits purporting to have been taken from captured 
British ships. 

[58] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



The Sussex Case 

T TNDER date of March 27, 1916, the United States Gov- 
^ ernment sent a note to Ambassador Gerard that **con- 
siderable evidence has been received by the Department to 
the effect that the steamship Sussex with several American 
citizens among the passengers was sunk by a submarine tor- 
pedo on the 24th instant, and he is directed to inquire 
immediately of the German Foreign Office whether a sub- 
marine belonging to Germany or her allies sunk the Sussex. 
The Department expects a prompt reply." 

Similar inquiries were sent respecting ships upon which 
Americans were aboard, including the Englishman, a horse 
transport, March 21; the Manchester Engineer, March 27; 
the Eagle Point, March 28; the Berwindale, March 16. The 
reply, transmitted through Ambassador Gerard, April 11, 
asserted that the Berwindale, Englishman and Eagle Point 
had been sunk after disobeying an order from the submarine 
commanders to stop. Further details were asked as to the 
Manchester Engineer, to which the German Foreign Office re- 
plied that, "the data furnished regarding the place and time 
of the incident do not afford a sufficient clue for the inves- 
tigation." 

With respect to the Sussex, the first German reply pro- 
fessed a lack of certainty. It was stated that "a long black 
vessel without a flag, with a gray smokestack and a small 
gray superstructure and with two small masts" was en- 
countered by a German submarine on March 24, about the 
middle of the English channel, and that the commander of 
the submarine was convinced she was a mine layer. He 
therefore torpedoed her. The severity of the resulting ex- 
plosion led to the conclusion that there were explosives on 
board. With the note were enclosed two copies of a sketch 
of the vessel, said to have been drawn by the submarine 
commander, and two pictures of the Sussex from a London 
paper. The pictures were entirely dissimilar. The German 
Foreign Office therefore expressed the opinion that the 
Sussex might have been the victim of a British mine. 

[59] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



Warning to Germany 
That Diplomatic Relations 
Would Be Broken Off 

THE second American note on the Sussex, forwarded 
through Ambassador Gerard, April i8, sharply called 
upon the German Government for a more serious consid- 
eration of the rights of the United States, and contained a 
warning that unless the Imperial German Government 
abandon its present methods of submarine warfare diplo- 
matic relations would be broken off. 

The Note to 

Germany on the Sussex 

THE following was sent by the Department of State, 
April i8, 1916, to Ambassador Gerard: 

"Information now in the possession of the Government of 
the United States fully establishes the facts in the case of 
the Sussex, and the inferences which my Government has 
drawn from that information it regards as confirmed by the 
circumstances set forth in Your Excellency's note of the 
loth instant. On the 24th of March, 1916, at about 2:50 
o'clock in the afternoon, the unarmed steamer Sussex, with 
325 or more passengers on board, among whom were a 
number of American citizens, was torpedoed while crossing 
from Folkestone to Dieppe. The Sussex had never been 
armed; was a vessel known to be habitually used only for 
the conveyance of passengers across the English Channel; 
and was not following the route taken by troop ships or 
supply ships. About 80 of her passengers, noncombatants 
of all ages and sexes, including citizens of the United States, 
were killed or injured. 

"A carefully detailed and scrupulously impartial investi- 
gation by naval and military officers of the United States 
has conclusively established the fact that the Sussex was 
torpedoed without warning or summons to surrender and 
that the torpedo by which she was struck was of German 
manufacture. In the view of the Government of the United 

[ 60 ] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



States these facts from the first made the conclusion that 
the torpedo was fired by a German submarine unavoidable. 
It now considers that conclusion substantiated by the state- 
ments of Your Excellency's note. A full statement of the 
facts upon which the Government of the United States has 
based its conclusion is enclosed. 

"The Government of the United States, after having given 
careful consideration to the note of the Imperial Government 
of the loth of April, regrets to state that the impression 
made upon it by the statements and proposals contained 
in that note is that the Imperial Government has failed to 
appreciate the gravity of the situation which has resulted, 
not alone from the attack on the Sussex but from the whole 
method and character of submarine warfare as disclosed by 
the unrestrained practice of the commanders of German 
undersea craft during the past twelve months and more, in 
the indiscriminate destruction of merchant vessels of all 
sorts, nationalities, and destinations. If the sinking of the 
Sussex had been an isolated case the Government of the 
United States might find it possible to hope that the ofl&cer 
who was responsible for that act had wilfully violated his 
orders or had been criminally negligent in taking none of 
the precautions they prescribed, and that the ends of jus- 
tice might be satisfied by imposing upon him an adequate 
punishment, coupled with a formal disavowal of the act and 
payment of a suitable indemnity by the Imperial Govern- 
ment. But, though the attack upon the Sussex was mani- 
festly indefensible and caused a loss of Hfe so tragical as to 
make it stand forth as one of the most terrible examples of 
the inhumanity of submarine warfare as the commanders 
of German vessels are conducting it, it unhappily does not 
stand alone. 

"On the contrary, the Government of the United States 
is forced by recent events to conclude that it is only one in- 
stance, even though one of the most extreme and most dis- 
tressing instances, of the deliberate method and spirit of 
indiscriminate destruction of merchant vessels of all sorts, 
nationalities, and destinations which have become more and 

[61 ] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



more unmistakable as the activity of German undersea ves- 
sels of war has in recent months been quickened and extended. 

"The Imperial Government will recall that when, in Feb- 
ruary, 191 5, it announced its intention of treating the waters 
surrounding Great Britain and Ireland as embraced within 
the seat of war and of destroying all merchant ships owned 
by its enemies that might be found within that zone of dan- 
ger, and warned all vessels, neutral as well as belligerent, to 
keep out of the waters thus proscribed or to enter them at 
their peril, the Government of the United States earnestly 
protested. It took the position that such a policy could 
not be pursued without constant gross and palpable viola- 
tions of the accepted law of nations, particularly if subma- 
rine craft were to be employed as its instruments, inasmuch 
as the rules prescribed by that law, rules founded on the 
principles of humanity and estabhshed for the protection 
of the lives of noncombatants at sea, could not in the na- 
ture of the case be observed by such vessels. It based its 
protest on the ground that persons of neutral nationality 
and vessels of neutral ownership would be exposed to ex- 
treme and intolerable risks; and that no right to close any 
part of the high seas could lawfully be asserted by the Im- 
perial Government in the circumstances then existing. The 
law of nations in these matters, upon which the Govern- 
ment of the United States based that protest, is not of re- 
cent origin or founded upon merely arbitrary principles set 
up by convention. It is based, on the contrary, upon mani- 
fest principles of humanity and has long been established 
with the approval and by the express assent of all civilized 
nations. 

"The Imperial Government, notwithstanding, persisted 
in carrying out the policy announced, expressing the hope 
that the dangers involved, at any rate to neutral vessels, 
would be reduced to a minimum by the instructions which 
it had issued to the commanders of its submarines, and as- 
suring the Government of the United States that it would 
take every possible precaution both to respect the rights of 
neutrals and to safeguard the lives of nohcombatants. 

[62] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



"In pursuance of this policy of submarine warfare against 
the commerce of its adversaries, thus announced and thus 
entered upon in despite of the solemn protest of the Govern- 
ment of the United States, the commanders of the Imperial 
Government's undersea vessels have carried on practices of 
such ruthless destruction which have made it more and 
more evident as the months have gone by that the Imperial 
Government has found it impracticable to put any such re- 
straints upon them as it had hoped and promised to put. 
Again and again the Imperial Government has given its 
solemn assurances to the Government of the United States 
that at least passenger ships would not be thus dealt with, 
and yet it has repeatedly permitted its undersea command- 
ers to disregard thos^e assurances with entire impunity. As 
recently as February last it gave notice that it would re- 
gard all armed merchantmen owned by its enemies as part 
of the armed naval forces of its adversaries and deal with 
them as with men-of-war, thus, at least by implication, 
pledging itself to give warning to vessels which were not 
armed and to accord security of life to their passengers and 
crews; but even this limitation their submarine command- 
ers have recklessly ignored. 

"Vessels of neutral ownership, even vessels cf neutral own- 
ership bound from neutral port to neutral .port, have been 
destroyed along with vessels of belligerent ownership in con- 
stantly increasing numbers. Sometimes the merchantmen 
attacked have been warned and summoned to surrender be- 
fore being fired on or torpedoed; sometimes their passen- 
gers and crews have been vouchsafed the poor security of 
being allowed to take to the ship's boats before the ship was 
sent to the bottom. But again and again no warning has 
been given, no escape even to the ship's boats allowed to 
those on board. Great liners like the Lusitania and Arabic 
and mere passenger boats like the Sussex have been at- 
tacked without a moment's warning, often before they have 
even become aware that they were in the presence of an 
armed ship of the enemy, and the lives of noncombatants, 
passengers and crew have been destroyed wholesale and in 

[63] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



a manner which the Government of the United States can 
not but regard as wanton and without the sHghtest color 
of justification. No limit of any kind has in fact been set 
to their indiscriminate pursuit and destruction of merchant- 
men of all kinds and nationalities within the waters which 
the Imperial 'Government has chosen to designate as lying 
within the seat of war. The roll of Americans who have 
lost their lives upon ships thus attacked and destroyed has 
grown month by month until the ominous toll has mounted 
into the hundreds. 

"The Government of the United States has been very pa- 
tient. At every stage of this distressing experience of 
tragedy after tragedy it has sought to be governed by the 
most thoughtful consideration of the extraordinary circum- 
stances of an unprecedented war and to be guided by sen- 
timents of very genuine friendship for the people and Gov- 
ernment of Germany. It has accepted the successive ex- 
planations and assurances of the Imperial Government as 
of course given in entire sincerity and good faith, and has 
hoped, even against hope, that it would prove to be possible 
for the Imperial Government so to order and control the 
acts of its naval commanders as to square its policy with the 
recognized principles of humanity as embodied in the law of 
nations. It has made every allowance for unprecedented 
conditions and has been willing to wait until the facts be- 
came unmistakable and were susceptible of only one inter- 
pretation. 

"It now owes it to a just regard for its own rights to say 
to the Imperial Government that that time has come. It 
has become painfully evident to it that the position which 
it took at the very outset is inevitable, namely, the use of 
submarines for the destruction of an enemy's commerce, is, 
of necessity, because of the very character of the vessels 
employed and the very methods of attack which their em- 
ployment of course involves, utterly incompatible with the 
principles of humanity, the long-established and incontro- 
vertible rights of neutrals and the sacred immunities of 
noncombatants. 

[ 64 ] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



"If it is Still the purpose of the Imperial Government to 
prosecute relentless and indiscriminate warfare against ves- 
sels of commerce by the use of submarines, without regard 
to what the Government of the United States must con- 
sider the sacred and indisputable rules of international law 
and the universally recognized dictates of humanity, the 
Government of the United States is at last forced to the 
conclusion that there is but one course it can pursue. Un- 
less the Imperial Government should now immediately de- 
clare and effect an abandonment of its present methods of 
submarine warfare against passenger and freight-carrying 
vessels, the Government of the United States can have no 
choice but to sever diplomatic relations with the German 
Empire altogether. This action the Government of the 
United States contemplates with the greatest reluctance, but 
feels constrained to take in behalf of humanity and the 
rights of neutral nations." 

Lansing 

This note was accompanied by a statement of facts and 
a number of affidavits. 

Reply to Sussex Note and 
Restricted Submarine Warfare 

IN RESPONSE to the Sussex note the German Foreign 
Office, on May 4, handed to Ambassador Gerard a note 
admitting the possibility of the Sussex being torpedoed by 
a German submarine and the promise of thorough investi- 
gation. The dispatch held that errors of this nature can- 
not be avoided, but while declaring that "it cannot dispense 
with the use of the submarine weapon in the conduct of 
warfare against enemy trade," it "has now decided to make 
further concessions in adapting the methods of submarine 
warfare to the interests of the neutrals." The note states: 

"As matters stand, the German Government cannot but 
reiterate its regret that the sentiments of humanity which 
the Government of the United States extends with such 
fervor to the unhappy victims of submarine warfare are not 

[65] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



extended with the same warmth of feeling to the many mil- 
lions of women and children who, according to the avowed 
intentions of the British Government, shall be starved and 
who, by their sufferings, shall force the victorious armies 
of the Central Powers in ignominious capitulation. The 
German Government, in agreement with the German peo- 
ple, fails to understand this discrimination, all the more as 
it has repeatedly and explicitly declared itself ready to use 
the submarine weapon in strict conformity with the rules of 
international law as recognized before the outbreak of the 
war, if Great Britain were likewise ready to adapt her con- 
duct of warfare to these rules. The several attempts made 
by the Government of the United States to prevail upon the 
British Government to act accordingly have failed because 
of the flat refusal on the part of the British Government. 
Moreover, Great Britain has ever since, again and again vio- 
lated international law, surpassing all bounds in outraging 
neutral rights. The latest measure adopted by Great Brit- 
ain, declaring German bunker coal as contraband and es- 
tablishing conditions under which alone English bunker 
coal shall be suppHed to neutrals, is nothing but an un- 
heard-of attempt, by way of exaction, to force neutral ton- 
nage into the service of the British trade war. 

"The German people knows that the Government of the 
United States has the power to confine this war to the 
armed forces of the belligerent countries in the interest of 
humanity and the maintenance of international law. The 
Government of the United States would have been certain 
of attaining this end had it been determined to insist against 
Great Britain on its incontestable rights to the freedom of 
the seas. But, as matters stand, the German people is 
under the impression that the Government of the United 
States, while demanding that Germany, struggling for her 
existence, shall restrain the use of an effective weapon, and 
while making the compliance with these demands a condi- 
tion for the maintenance of relations with Germany, con- 
fines itself to protests against the illegal methods adopted 
by Germany's enemies. Moreover, the German people 

[66] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



knows to what a considerable extent its enemies are sup- 
plied with all kinds of war material from the United States. 

"It will therefore be understood that the appeal made by 
the Government of the United States to the sentiments of 
humanity and to the principles of international law can- 
not, under the circumstances, meet with the same hearty 
response from the German people which such an appeal is 
otherwise always certain to find here. If the German Gov- 
ernment, nevertheless, has resolved to go to the utmost 
limit of concessions, it has not alone been guided by the 
friendship connecting the two great nations for over a hun- 
dred years, but it also has thought of the great doom which 
threatens the entire civilized world should this cruel and 
sanguinary war be extended and prolonged. 

"The German Government, conscious of Germany's 
strength, has twice within the last few months announced 
before the world its readiness to make peace on a basis 
safeguarding Germany's vital interests, thus indicating that 
it is not Germany's fault if peace is still withheld from the 
nations of Europe. 

"The German Government feels all the more justified to 
declare that the responsibihty could not be borne before the 
forum of mankind and history if, after 21 months' duration 
of the war, the submarine question under discussion be- 
tween the German Government and the Government of the 
United States were to take a turn seriously threatening the 
maintenance of peace between the two nations. 

"As far as it lies with the German Government, it wishes 
to prevent things from taking such a course. The German 
Government, moreover, is prepared to do its utmost to con- 
fine the operations of war for the rest of its duration to the 
fighting forces of the belligerents, thereby also insuring the 
freedom of the seas, as principle upon which the German 
Government believes, now as before, to be in agreement 
with the Government of the United States. 

"The German Government, guided by this idea, notifies 
the Government of the United States that the German 
naval forces have received the following orders : In accord- 

[67] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



ance with the general principles of visit and search and de- 
struction of merchant vessels recognized by international 
law, such vessels, both within and without the area de- 
clared as naval war zone, shall not be sunk without warn- 
ing and without saving human lives, unless these ships at- 
tempt to escape or offer resistance. 

"But neutrals cannot expect that Germany, forced to 
fight for her existence, shall, for the sake of neutral interest, 
restrict the use of an effective weapon if her enemy is per- 
mitted to continue to apply at will methods of warfare vio- 
lating the rules of international law. Such a demand would 
be incompatible with the character of neutrality, and the 
German Government is convinced that the Government of 
the United States does not think of making such a demand, 
knowing that the Government of the United States has re- 
peatedly declared that it is determined to restore the prin- 
ciple of the freedom of the seas, from whatever quarter it is 
violated. 

"Accordingly, the German Government is confident that, 
in consequence of the new orders issued to its naval forces, 
the Government of the United States will now also consider 
all impediments removed which may have been in the way 
of a mutual cooperation toward the restoration of the free- 
dom of the seas during the war as suggested in the note of 
July 23, 1915, and it does not doubt that the Government 
of the United States will now demand and insist that the 
British Government shall forthwith observe the rules of in- 
ternational law universally recognized before the war as they 
are laid down in the notes presented by the Government of 
the United States to the British Government on December 
28, 1914, and November 5, 191 5. Should the steps taken by 
the Government of the United States not attain the object 
it desires, to have the laws of humanity followed by all bel- 
ligerent nations, the German Government would then be 
facing a new situation, in which it must reserve itself com- 
plete liberty of decision." 

VON Jagow 

[68] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



In acknowledging this note the American Government ac- 
cepted the assurances of Germany as an abandonment of its 
ruthless submarine policy. In Mr, Lansing's note of May 
8, 1916, he said: 

"Accepting the Imperial Government's declaration of its 
abandonment of the policy which has so seriously menaced 
the good relations between the two countries, the Govern- 
ment of the United States will rely upon a scrupulous execu- 
tion henceforth of the now altered policy of the Imperial 
Government, such as will remove the principal danger to an 
interruption of the good relations existing between the Uni- 
ted States and Germany." 

The Allies Protest 

Against Merchant Submarines 

T TNDER date of August 21, 1916, and shortly following, 
^ the French, British, Russian, Japanese and Italian 
Governments sent communications to the United States 
Government holding that in view of the peculiar nature of 
submarines they must be excluded from the rules hereto- 
■ fore accepted in international law regarding the admission 
and sojourn of war and merchant vessels in neutral waters; 
and that any belligerent submarine, entering neutral waters, 
must be held there. A warning was issued to neutral 
powers of great danger to neutral submarines in waters 
visited by the submarines of belligerents. The American 
Secretary of State issued an identic note in reply, under 
date August 31, 1916, asserting the right of the American 
Government to reserve liberty of action in respect to either 
armed or merchant submarines, and insisting that belliger- 
ent powers must distinguish between neutral and belligerent 
submarines. 



[69] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



ID 



EACE PROPOSALS 



"ViyiTHGUT previous announcement, Germany and her 
^^ allies issued an identic note December 12, 1916, 
offering to enter into negotiations for peace. The note was 
addressed by the German Government as spokesman for 
itself, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria, to the United 
States, Spain and Switzerland, for transmission to the 
hostile governments. It read as follows: 

**The most terrific war ever experienced in history has 
been raging for the last two years and a half over a large 
part of the world — a catastrophe which thousands of years 
of common civilization were unable to prevent, and which 
injures the most precious achievements of humanity. Our 
aims are not to shatter or annihilate our adveisaries. In 
spite of our consciousness of our military and economic 
strength and our readiness to continue the war (which has 
been forced upon us) until the bitter end, if necessary; at 
the same time prompted by the desire to avoid further blood- 
shed and make an end to the atrocities of war, the four al- 
lied Powers propose to enter forthwith into peace negotia- 
tions. 

"The propositions which they bring forward for such nego- 
tiations and which have for their object a guarantee of the 
existence, of the honor, and liberty of evolution for their 
nations are, according to their firm belief, an appropriate 
basis for the establishment of a lasting peace. 

"The four allied Powers have been obliged to take up 
arms to defend justice and the liberty of national evolution. 
The glorious deeds of our armies have in no way altered 
their purpose. We always maintained the firm belief that 
our own rights and justified claims in no way control the 
rights of these nations. 

"The spiritual and material progress which were the 
pride of Europe at the beginning of the twentieth century 
are threatened with ruin. Germany and her allies, Austria- 

[70] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey, gave proof of their uncon- 
querable strength in this struggle. They gained gigantic ad- 
vantages over adversaries superior in number and war ma- 
terial. Our lines stand unshaken against ever-repeated at- 
tempts made by armies. 

"The last attack in the Balkans has been rapidly and vic- 
toriously overcome. The most recent events have demon- 
strated that further continuance of the war will not result 
in breaking the resistance of our forces, and the whole situa- 
tion with regard to our troops justifies our expectations of 
further successes. 

"If, in spite of this ofFer of peace and reconciliation, the 
struggle should go on, the four allied Powers are resolved to 
continue to a victorious end, but they disclaim responsibility 
for this before humanity and history. 

"The Imperial Government, through the good offices of 
your Excellency, ask the Government of (here is inserted the 
name of the neutral Power addressed in each instance) to 
bring this communication to the knowledge of the Govern- 
ment of (here are inserted the names of the belligerents)." 

At the time the German peace conference proposal was 
made. President Wilson had under consideration a proposi- 
tion to bring the belligerent nations into an exchange of 
declarations of purposes and terms. This was made known 
to the parties interested, December i8, through identic 
notes to the Central Powers and identic notes of almost 
similar wording, sent to the Entente Allies. 

President Wilson's Peace Note 

{Sent to All the Belligerent Powers) 

Department of State 
Washington, December i8, 1916 

**^X^HE President directs me to send you the following 
■*- communication to be presented immediately to the 
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Government to which 
you are accredited: 

[71 ] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



"The President of the United States has instructed me to 
suggest to the Imperial German Government a course of 
action with regard to the present war which he hopes that 
the Imperial Government will take under consideration as 
suggested in the most friendly spirit and as coming not only 
from a friend but also as coming from the representative of 
a neutral nation whose interests have been most seriously 
affected by the war and whose concern for its early conclu- 
sion arises out of a manifest necessity to determine how 
best to safeguard those interests if the war is to continue. 

"The suggestion which I am instructed to make the Presi- 
dent has long had it in mind to offer. He is somewhat em- 
barrassed to offer it at this particular time because it may 
now seem to have been prompted by a desire to play a 
part in connection with the recent overtures of the Cen- 
tral Powers. It has in fact been in no way suggested by 
them in its origin and the President would have delayed of- 
fering it until those overtures had been independently an- 
swered but for the fact that it also concerns the question of 
peace and may best be considered in connection with other 
proposals which have the same end in view. The President 
can only beg that his suggestion be considered entirely on 
its own merits and as if it had been made in other circum- 
stances. 

"The President suggests that an early occasion be sought 
to call out from all the nations now at war such an avowal 
of their respective views as to the terms upon which the war 
might be concluded and the arrangements which would be 
deemed satisfactory as a guaranty against its renewal or the 
kindling of any similar conflict in the future as would make 
it possible frankly to compare them. He is indifferent as to 
the means taken to accomplish this. He would be happy 
himself to serve, or even to take the initiative in its accom- 
plishment, in any way that might prove acceptable, but he 
has no desire to determine the method or the instrumental- 
ity. One way will be as acceptable to him as another if only 
the great object he has in mind be attained. 

"He takes the liberty of caUing attention to the fact that 

[72] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



the objects which the statesmen of the belhgerents on both 
sides have in mind in this war are virtually the same, as 
stated in general terms to their own people and to the world. 
Each side desires to make the rights and privileges of weak 
peoples and small states as secure against aggression or de- 
nial in the future as the rights and privileges of the great 
and powerful states now at war. Each wishes itself to be 
made secure in the future, along with all other nations and 
peoples, against the recurrence of wars like this, and against 
aggression of selfish interference of any kind. Each would 
be jealous of the formation of any more rival leagues to pre- 
serve an uncertain balance of power amidst multiplying sus- 
picions; but each is ready to consider the formation of a 
league of nations to insure peace and justice throughout the 
world. Before that final step can be taken, however, each 
deems it necessary first to settle the issues of the present 
war upon terms which will certainly safeguard the inde- 
pendence, the territorial integrity, and the political and 
commercial freedom of the nations involved. 

*'In the measures to be taken to secure the future peace 
of the world, the people and Government of the United 
States are as vitally and as directly interested as the Gov- 
ernments now at war. Their interest, moreover, in the 
means to be adopted to relieve the smaller and weaker peo- 
ples of the world of the peril of wrong and violence is as 
quick and ardent as that of any other people or Govern- 
ment. They stand ready, and even eager, to cooperate in 
the accomplishment of these ends, when the war is over, 
with every influence and resource at their command. But 
the war must first be concluded. The terms upon which it 
is to be concluded they are not at liberty to suggest; but the 
President does feel that it is his right and his duty to point 
out their intimate interest in its conclusion, lest it should 
presently be too late to accomplish the greater things which 
He beyond its conclusion, lest the situation of neutral na- 
tions, now exceedingly hard to endure, be rendered alto- 
gether intolerable, and lest, more than all, an injury be done 
civiHzation itself which can never be atoned for or repaired. 

[73] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



"The President therefore feels altogether justified in sug- 
gesting an immediate opportunity for a comparison of views 
as to the terms which must precede those ultimate arrange- 
ments for the peace of the world, which all desire and in 
which the neutral nations as well as those at war are ready 
to play their full responsible part. If the contest must con- 
tinue to proceed toward undefined ends by slow attrition 
until the one group of belligerents or the other is exhausted, 
if million after million of human lives must continue to be 
offered up until on the one side or the other there are no 
more to offer, if resentments must be kindled that never 
cool and despairs engendered from which there can be no 
recovery, hopes of peace and of the wiUing concert of free 
peoples will be rendered vain and idle. 

"The life of the entire world has been profoundly affected. 
Every part of the great family of mankind has felt the bur- 
den and terror of this unprecedented contest of arms. No 
nation in the civilized world can be said in truth to stand 
outside its influence or to be safe against its disturbing ef- 
fects. And yet the concrete objects for which it is being 
waged have never been definitely stated. 

"The leaders of the several belligerents have, as has been 
said, stated those objects in general terms. But, stated in 
general terms, they seem the same on both sides. Never 
yet have the authoritative spokesmen of either side avowed 
the precise objects which would, if attained, satisfy them 
and their people that the war had been fought out. The 
world has been left to conjecture what definitive results, 
what actual exchange of guaranties, what poHtical or terri- 
torial changes or readjustments, what stage of military suc- 
cess even, would bring the war to an end. 

"It may be that peace is nearer than we know; that the 
terms which the belligerents on one side and on the other 
would deem it necessary to insist upon are not so irreconcil- 
able as some have feared; that an interchange of views would 
clear the way at least for conference and make the perma- 
nent concord of the nations a hope of the immediate future, 
a concert of nations immediately practicable. 

[74] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



"The President is not proposing peace; he is not even of- 
fering mediation. He is merely proposing that soundings 
be taken in order that we may learn, the neutral nations 
with the belligerent, how near the haven of peace may be 
for which all mankind longs with an intense and increasing 
longing. He believes that the spirit in which he speaks 
and the objects which he seeks will be understood by all 
concerned and he confidently hopes for a response which 
will bring a new light into the affairs of the world." 



Lansing 



Lloyd George's Address 
ON THE German Proposal 



^ I ^HE attitude of the Allies toward the German proposal 
-*- was expressed in an address by Premier Lloyd George 
in the British House of Commons December 19, in which 
he said: 

"I appear before the House of Commons today with the 
most terrible responsibility that can fall upon the shoulders 
of any living man as chief adviser of the Crown in the most 
gigantic war in which this country was ever engaged, a war 
upon the events of which its destiny depends. It is the 
greatest war ever waged; the burdens are the heaviest that 
have been cast upon this or any other country and the is- 
sues the gravest that have been attached to any conflict 
in which humanity was ever involved. 

"The responsibilities of the new Government have been 
suddenly accentuated by the declaration made by the Ger- 
man Chancellor. The statement made by him in the Reich- 
stag has been followed by a note presented by the United 
States without note or comment. The answer given by 
this Government will be given in full accord with all our 
allies. 

"Naturally there has been an interchange of views, not 
upon the note, because it has only recently arrived, but 
upon the speech which impelled it, and as the note itself is 

[75] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



practically only a reproduction or a paraphrase of the 
speech, the subject matter of the note itself has been dis- 
cussed informally between the Allies. I am glad to be 
able to state that we each separately and independently ar- 
rived at identical conclusions. 

"I am very glad that the first answer given to the state- 
ment of the German Chancellor was given by France and 
Russia. They have the unquestionable right to give the 
first answer to such an invitation. The enemy is still on 
their soil and their sacrifices have been the greater. 

"The answer they have given has already appeared in 
the papers, and I simply stand here to give clear and defi- 
nite support to the statement they have already made. 

"Any man or set of men who, with or without sufficient 
cause, want prolonged a terrible conflict like this would have 
on his soul a crime that oceans could not cleanse. 
"•' "On the other hand it is equally true that any man or set 
of men who from a sense of weariness or despair abandoned 
the struggle without achieving the high purposes for which 
we entered it would be guilty of the costliest act of pol- 
troonery ever perpetrated by any statesman. I should like 
to quote the words of Abraham Lincoln under similar con- 
ditions : 

" *We accepted this war for an object and a world ob- 
ject, and the war will end when the object is attained under 
God. I hope it will never end until that time.' 

"Are we likely to achieve the object by accepting the in- 
vitation of the German Chancellor.? What are the propo- 
sals .f* There are none. 

"To enter, on the invitation of Germany, proclaiming her- 
self victorious, without any knowledge of what proposals she 
proposes to make, into a conference is to put our heads into 
a noose with the rope end in the hands of Germany. 

"This country is not altogether without experience in 
these matters. This is not the first time we have fought a 
great military despotism overshadowing Europe, and it 
won't be the first time we have helped to overthrow a 
military despotism. 

[76] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



"We have an uncomfortable historical memory of these 
things and can recall one of the greatest of these despots, 
whose favorite device was to appear in the garb of an 
angel of peace, either when he wished time to assimilate his 
conquests or to reorganize his forces for fresh conquests; or, 
secondly, when his subjects showed symptoms of fatigue 
and war weariness an appeal was always made in the name 
of humanity. He demanded an end to the bloodshed at 
which he professed himself horrified, although he himself 
was mainly responsible. 

"Our ancestors were taken in once, and bitterly they and 
Europe rue it. The time was devoted to reorganizing his forces 
for a deadlier attack than ever upon the liberties of Europe, 

"Examples of this kind cause us to regard this note with 
a considerable measure of reminiscent disquietude. 

"We feel that we ought to know, before we can give fa- 
vorable consideration to such an invitation, that Germany 
is prepared to accede to the only terms on which it is pos- 
sible peace can be obtained and maintained in Europe. 
Those terms have been repeatedly stated by all the leading 
statesmen of the Allies. They have been stated repeatedly 
here and outside. To quote the leader of the House last week : 

" 'Reparation and guarantee against repetition, so there 
shall be no mistake, and it is important that there should 
be no mistake in a matter of life or death to millions.' 

"Let me repeat — complete restitution, full reparation and 
effectual guarantees. 

"Did the German Chancellor use a single phrase to indi- 
cate that he was prepared to accept such a peace,? Was 
there a hint of restitution? Was there a suggestion of repa- 
ration,? Was there an implication of any security for the 
future that this outrage on civilization would not again be 
perpetrated at the first profitable opportunity ? 

A Denial of Peace 

**^TpHE very substance and style of the speech constitutes 

-■- a denial of peace on the only terms on which peace 

is possible. He is not even conscious now that Germany 

[77] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



has committed any offense against the rights of free nations. 
Listen to this from the note: 

" 'Not for an instant have they (the Central Powers) 
swerved from the conviction that respect of the rights of 
other nations is not in any degree incompatible with their 
own rights and legitimate interests.* 

"When did they discover this ? Where was respect for the 
rights of other nations in Belgium and Serbia.? That was 
self-defense, menace, I suppose, by the overwhelming armies 
of Belgium. I suppose the Germans had been intimidated 
into invading Belgium and burning Belgian cities and vil- 
lages, into massacring thousands of the inhabitants, old and 
young, into carrying off the survivors into bondage. Yes, 
and they were carrying them into slavery at the very mo- 
ment when this note was being written about their unswerv- 
ing conviction as to the respect due the rights of other na- 
tions. 

"Are these outrages the legitimate interest of Germany.? 
We must know. That is not a moment for peace. If ex- 
cuses of this kind for palpable crimes can be put forward 
two and a half years after exposure by the grim facts, is there 
any guarantee that similar subterfuges will not be used in 
the future to overthrow any treaty of peace you may enter 
into with Prussian militarism? 

"The note and speech prove that they have not yet 
learned the alphabet of respect for the rights of others. 

"Without reparation peace is impossible. Are all these 
outrages against humanity on land and sea to be liquidated 
by a few pious phrases about humanity? Germany leaves 
us to exact the damage for all future violence committed 
after the war. We must exact it now so as not to leave 
such a grim inheritance to our children. 

"Much as we all long for peace, deeply as we are horrified 
with war, this note and speech which heralded it do not af- 
ford us much encouragement to hope for an honorable and 
lasting peace. 

"What hope is given in the speech that the whole root 
and cause of this great bitterness, the arrogant spirit of the 

[78] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



Prussian military caste, will not be as dominant as ever if 
we patch up peace now? The very speech in which these 
peace suggestions are made resounds to the boast of Prus- 
sian military triumph. It is a long paean over the victory 
of von Hindenburg. 

"We must keep a steadfast eye upon the purpose for 
which we entered the war; otherwise the great sacrifices we 
have been making will be in vain. The German note states 
that it was for the defense of their existence and the free- 
dom of national development that the Central Powers were 
constrained to take up arms. Such phrases are intended to 
delude the German nation into supporting the designs of 
the Prussian military caste, who ever wished to put an end 
to their national existence or freedom of development. We 
welcomed their development so long as it was on the paths 
of peace. 

"The Allies entered this war to defend Europe against the 
aggression of Prussian military domination, and, having be- 
gun it, they must insist that the only end is the most com- 
plete effective guarantee against the possibility of that 
caste ever again disturbing the peace of Europe. 

"Prussia, since she got into the hands of that caste, has 
been a bad neighbor, arrogant, threatening, bullying, shift- 
ing her boundaries at her will, and taking one fair field after 
another from her weaker neighbors and adding them to her 
own dominions. 

"With her belt ostentatiously full of weapons of offense 
and ready at a moment's notice to use them, she has always 
been an unpleasant, disturbing neighbor in Europe. She 
got thoroughly on the nerves of Europe. There was no 
peace near where she dwelt. It is difficult for those who 
are fortunate enough to live thousands of miles away to 
understand what it has meant to those who live near. 

"Even here, with the protection of the broad seas be- 
tween us, we know what a disturbing factor the Prussians 
were with their constant naval menace. But we can hard- 
ly realize what it meant to France and Russia. Several 
times there were threats directed against them even within 

[79] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



the lifetime of this generation, which presented the alter- 
native of war or humiliation. There were many of us who 
hoped that the internal influence in Germany would be 
strong enough to check and ultimately to eliminate it. 

"Now that this great war has been forced by the Prus- 
sian leaders, it would be folly not to see to it that this swash- 
buckling through the streets of Europe and this disturbance 
of peaceful citizens was dealt with here and now as the most 
serious offense against the law of nations. 

"We will wait until we hear what terms and guarantees 
the German Government offer other than those, better 
than those, surer than those which she so lightly broke. 
And meanwhile we shall put our trust in our unbroken army 
rather than in broken faith. 

"For the moment I do not think it would be advisable 
for me to add anything upon this particular invitation. A 
formal reply will be delivered by the Allies in the course 
of the next few days." 

Formal Reply of Allies 

^ I ^HE formal joint reply of the Allies rejecting the Ger- 
•*- man peace conference overtures of December 12 was 
handed to Ambassador Sharp in Paris, December 30, and by 
him transmitted to the Secretary of State. It follows: 

"The Allied Governments of Belgium, France, Great Brit- 
ain, Italy, Japan, Montenegro, Portugal, Rumania, Russia 
and Serbia, united for the defense of the Hberty of their 
peoples and faithful to engagements taken not to lay down 
their arms separately, have resolved to reply collectively to 
the pretended propositions of peace which were addressed 
to them on behalf of the enemy Governments through the 
intermediary of the United States, Spain, Switzerland and 
Holland. 

"Before making any reply the Allied Powers desire par- 
ticularly to protest against the two essential assertions of 
the notes of the enemy Powers that pretend to throw upon 
the Allies responsibility for the war and proclaim the vic- 
tory of the Central Powers. 

[80] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



"The Allied Governments cannot admit an affirmation 
doubly inexact and which suffices to render sterile all ten- 
tative negotiations. 

"The Allied Nations have sustained for thirty months a 
war they did everything to avoid. They have shown by 
their acts their attachment to peace. That attachment is 
as strong today as it was in 1914. But it is not upon the 
word of Germany after the violation of its engagements 
that the peace broken by her may be based. 

"A mere suggestion without a statement of terms that 
negotiations should be opened is not an offer of peace. The 
putting forward by the Imperial Government of a sham 
proposal lacking all substance and precision would appear 
to be less an offer of peace than a war manoeuvre. It is 
founded on calculated misinterpretation of the character of 
the struggle in the past, the present and the future. 

"As for the past, the German note takes no account of 
the facts, dates and figures which estabhsh that the war 
was desired, provoked and declared by Germany and Aus- 
tria-Hungary. 

"At the Hague conference it was a German delegate who 
refused all proposals for disarmament. In July 1914, it was 
Austria-Hungary who, after having addressed to Serbia an 
unprecedented ultimatum, declared war upon her in spite of 
the satisfaction which had at once been accorded. 

**The Central Empires then rejected all attempts made 
by the Entente to bring about a pacific solution of a purely 
local conflict. Great Britain suggested a conference, France 
proposed an international commission, the Emperor of Rus- 
sia asked the German Emperor to go to arbitration, and 
Russia and Austria-Hungary came to an understanding on 
the eve of the conflict. But to all these efforts Germany 
gave neither answer nor effect. 

"Belgium was invaded by an empire which had guaran- 
teed her neutrality and which had the assurance to pro- 
claim that treaties were 'scraps of paper* and that *neces- 
sity knows no law.* 

"At the present moment these sham offers on the part 

[81 ] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



of Germany rest on the war map of Europe alone, which 
represents nothing more than a superficial and passing 
phase of the situation and not the real strength of the bellig- 
erents. A peace concluded upon these terms would be 
only to the advantage of the aggressors, who after imagin- 
ing that they would reach their goal in two months discov- 
ered after two years that they could never attain it. 

"As for the future, the disasters caused by the German 
declaration of war and the innumerable outrages committed 
by Germany and her allies against both belligerents and 
neutrals demand penalties, reparation and guarantees. Ger- 
many avoids mention of any of these. 

"In reality these overtures made by the Central Powers 
are nothing more than a calculated attempt to influence the 
future course of the war and to end it by imposing a Ger- 
man peace. The object of these overtures is to create dis- 
sension in public opinion in the alHed countries. But that 
public opinion has in spite of all the sacrifices endured by 
the Allies already given its answer with admirable firm- 
ness and has denounced the empty pretence of the declara- 
tion of the enemy Powers. 

"They have the further object of stifi'ening public opinion 
in Germany and in the countries allied to her, one and all 
severely tried by their losses, worn out by economic pres- 
sure and crushed by the supreme effort which has been im- 
posed upon their inhabitants. 

"They endeavor to deceive and intimidate public opin- 
ion in neutral countries whose inhabitants have long since 
made up their minds where the initial responsibilities lie 
and are far too enlightened to favor the designs of Ger- 
many by abandoning the defense of human freedom. 

"Finally these overtures attempt to justify in advance in 
the eyes of the world a new series of crimes — submarine 
warfare, deportations, forced labor and forced enlistment 
of the inhabitants against their own countries, and viola- 
tions of neutrality. 

"Fully conscious of the gravity of this moment, but 
equally conscious of its requirements, the Allied Govern- 

[82] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



ments, closely united to one another and in perfect sym- 
pathy with their peoples, refuse to consider a proposal 
which is empty and insincere. Once again the Allies declare 
that no peace is possible so long as they have not secured 
reparation for violated rights and liberties, the recognition 
of the principle of nationalities and of the free existence of 
small states; so long as they have not brought about a set- 
tlement calculated to end once and for all forces which 
have constituted a perpetual menace to the nations and to 
afford the only effective guarantee for the future security 
of the world. 

"In conclusion, the Allied Powers think it necessary to 
put forward the following considerations, which show the 
special situation of Belgium after two and a half years of 
war: 

"In virtue of the international treaties signed by five 
great European Powers, of whom Germany was one, Bel- 
gium enjoyed before the war a special status, rendering her 
territory inviolable and placing her, under the guarantee of 
the Powers, outside all European conflicts. She was, how- 
ever, in spite of these treaties the first to suffer the aggres- 
sion of Germany. For this reason the Belgian Govern- 
ment thinks it necessary to define the aims which Belgium 
has never ceased to pursue while fighting side by side with 
the Entente Powers for right and justice. 

"Belgium has always scrupulously fulfilled the duties 
which her neutrality imposed upon her. She has taken up 
arms to defend her independence and her neutrality, vio- 
lated by Germany, and to show that she remains faithful 
to her international obligations. 

"On the 4th of August, 1914, in the Reichstag the Ger- 
man Chancellor admitted that this aggression constituted 
an injustice contrary to the laws of nations and pledged 
himself in the name of Germany to repair it. During 
two and a half years this injustice has been cruelly aggra- 
vated by the proceedings of the occupying forces, which 
have exhausted the resources of the country, ruined its in- 
dustries, devastated its towns and villages and have been 

[83] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



responsible for innumerable massacres, executions and im- 
prisonments. 

"At this very moment, while Germany is proclaiming 
peace and humanity to the world, she is deporting Belgian 
citizens by thousands and reducing them to slavery. 

"Belgium before the war asked for nothing but to live 
in harmony with her neighbors. Her King and her Govern- 
ment have but one aim — the re-establishment of peace and 
justice. But they only desire peace which would assure to 
their country legitimate reparation, guarantees and safe- 
guards for the future." 

The Central Powers responded on and shortly after De- 
cember 26, with an offer to enter into such a conference as 
proposed by President Wilson for the exchange of views, if 
it could be arranged. 

The answer of the Entente Allies, communicated by the 
American Ambassador to Paris under date of January 10, 
191 7, follows: 

The Allies' Reply to the 
President's Peace Note 

**^T^HE Allied Governments have received the note which 
■*• was delivered to them in the name of the Government 
of the United States on the nineteenth of December, 1916. 
They have studied it with the care imposed upon them 
both by the exact realization which they have of the grav- 
ity of the hour and by the sincere friendship which attaches 
them to the American people. 

*Tn general way they wish to declare that they pay trib- 
ute to the elevation of the sentiment with which the Ameri- 
can note is inspired and that they associate themselves with 
all their hopes with the project for the creation of a league 
of nations to insure peace and justice throughout the world. 
They recognize all the advantages for the cause of human- 
ity and civilization which the institution of international 
agreements, destined to avoid violent conflicts between na- 
tions, would prevent; agreements which must imply the 

[84] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



sanctions necessary to insure their execution and thus to 
prevent an apparent security from only facilitating new ag- 
gressions. But a discussion of future arrangements destined 
to insure an enduring peace presupposes a satisfactory set- 
tlement of the actual conflict; the Allies have as profound 
a desire as the Government of the United States to ter- 
minate as soon as possible a war for which the Central Em- 
pires are responsible and which inflicts such cruel sufferings 
upon humanity. But they believe that it is impossible at 
the present moment to attain a peace which will assure 
them reparation, restitution and such guarantees to which 
they are entitled by the aggression for which the responsi- 
bility rests with the Central Powers and of which the prin- 
ciple itself tended to ruin the security of Europe; a peace 
which would on the other hand permit the establishment of 
the future of European nations on a solid basis. The Allied 
nations are conscious that they are not fighting for selfish 
interests, but above all to safeguard the independence of 
peoples, of right and of humanity. 

"The Allies are fully aware of the losses and suflTering 
which the war causes to neutrals as well as to belligerents, 
and they deplore them; but they do not hold themselves re- 
sponsible for them, having in no way either willed or pro- 
voked this war, and they strive to reduce these damages in 
the measure compatible with the inexorable exigencies of 
their defense against the violence and the wiles of the 
enemy. 

"It is with satisfaction therefore that they take note of 
the declaration that the American communication is in no 
wise associated in its origin with that of the Central Powers, 
transmitted on the eighteenth of December by the Govern- 
ment of the United States. They did not doubt moreover, 
the resolution of that Government to avoid even the ap- 
pearance of a support, even moral, of the authors responsi- 
ble for the war. 

**The Allied Governments believe that they must pro- 
test in the most friendly but in the most specific manner 
against the assimilation established in the American note 

[85] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



between the two groups of belligerents; this assimilation, 
based upon public declarations by the Central Powers, is 
in direct opposition to the evidence, both as regards re- 
sponsibility for the past and as concerns guarantees for the 
future; President Wilson in mentioning it certainly had no 
intention of associating himself with it. 

"If there is an historical fact established at the present 
date, it is the wilful aggression of Germany and Austria- 
Hungary to insure their hegemony over Europe and their 
economic domination over the world. Germany proved, by 
her declaration of war, by the immediate violation of Bel- 
gium and Luxemburg, and by her manner of conducting the 
war, her simulating contempt for all principles of humanity 
and all respect for small states; as the conflict developed 
the attitude of the Central Powers and their AUies has been 
a continual defiance of humanity and civiHzation. Is it 
necessary to recall the horrors which accompanied the in- 
vasion of Belgium and of Serbia, the atrocious regime im- 
posed upon the invaded countries, the massacre of hundreds 
of thousands of inoffensive Armenians, the barbarities per- 
petrated against the populations of Syria, the raids of Zep- 
pelins on open towns, the destruction by submarines of 
passenger steamers and of merchantmen even under neu- 
tral flags, the cruel treatment inflicted upon prisoners of 
war, the juridical murders of Miss Cavell, of Captain Fryatt, 
the deportation and the reduction to slavery of civil popu- 
lations, et cetera? The execution of such a series of crimes 
perpetrated without any regard for universal reprobation 
fully explains to President Wilson the protest of the Allies. 

"They consider that the note which they sent to the 
United States in reply to the German note will be a response 
to the questions put by the American Government, and, ac- 
cording to the exact words of the latter, constitute *a pub- 
lic declaration as to the conditions upon which the war 
could be terminated.' 

"President Wilson desires more; he desires that the bellig- 
erent powers openly affirm the objects which they seek by 
continuing the war; the Allies experience no difl&culty in re- 

[86] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



plying to this request. Their objects in the war are well 
known; they have been formulated on many occasions by 
the chiefs of their divers Governments. Their objects in 
the war will not be made known in detail with all the equit- 
able compensations and indemnities for damages suflPered 
until the hour of negotiations. But the civilized world 
knows that they imply in all necessity and in the first in- 
stance the restoration of Belgium, of Serbia, and of Mon- 
tenegro, and the indemnities which are due them; the evacu- 
ation of the invaded territories of France, of Russia and of 
Rumania, with just reparation; the reorganization of Eu- 
rope, guaranteed by a stable regime and founded as much 
upon respect of nationalities and full security and liberty, 
economic development, which all nations, great or small, 
possess, as upon territorial conventions and international 
agreements suitable to guarantee territorial and maritime 
frontiers against unjustified attacks; the restitution of prov- 
inces or territories wrested in the past from the Allies by 
force or against the will of their populations, the liberation 
of Italians, of Slavs, of Rumanians and of Tcheco Slovaques 
from foreign domination; the enfranchisement of popula- 
tions subject to the bloody tyranny of the Turks; the expul- 
sion from Europe of the Ottoman Empire decidedly 
( * * * )^ to western civilization. The intentions of His 
Majesty, the Emperor of Russia, regarding Poland have 
been clearly indicated in the proclamation which he has just 
addressed to his armies. It goes without saying that if the 
Allies wish to liberate Europe from the brutal covetousness 
of Prussian mihtarism, it never has been their design, as 
has been alleged, to encompass the extermination of the 
German peoples and their political disappearance. That 
which they desire above all is to insure a peace upon the 
principles of liberty and justice, upon the inviolable fidelity 
to international obligation with which the Government of 
the United States has never ceased to be inspired. 

"United in the pursuits of this supreme object, the Allies 
are determined, individually and collectively, to act with 

^ Apparent omission. 

[87] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



all their power and to consent to all sacrifices to bring to a 
victorious close a conflict upon which they are convinced 
not only their own safety and prosperity depends, but also 
the future of civilization itself." 

The President's Appeal for a 
League for Peace 

FOLLOWING the receipt of the replies to his peace note 
President Wilson, on January 22, 1917, addressed the 
United States Senate, as the treaty-making body of the Gov- 
ernment, isubmitting certain conditions on which this Gov- 
ernment would feel justified in approving its formal and 
solemn adherence to a league for peace. He set forth that 
after the war it would be necessary to lay afresh and upon 
a new plan the foundations of peace among the nations. 
After summarizing the replies of the various powers to his 
note, he said, in part: 

"They imply, first of all, that it must be a peace without 
victory. It is not pleasant to say this. I beg that I may be 
permitted to put my own interpretation upon it and that it 
may be understood that no other interpretation was in my 
thought. I am seeking only to face realities and to face 
them without soft concealments. Victory would mean peace 
forced upon the loser, a victor's terms imposed upon the 
vanquished. It would be accepted in humiliation, under 
duress, at an intolerable sacrifice, and would leave a sting, 
a resentment, a bitter memory upon which terms of peace 
would rest, not permanently, but only as upon quicksand. 
Only a peace between equals can last. Only a peace the 
very principle of which is equality and a common partici- 
pation in a common benefit. The right state of mind, the 
right feeling between nations, is as necessary for a lasting 
peace as is the just settlement of vexed questions of terri- 
tory or of racial and national allegiance. 

"The equality of nations upon which peace must be found- 
ed, if it is to last, must be an equality of rights; the guaran- 
tees exchanged must neither recognize nor imply a difference 

[88] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



between big nations and small, between those that are pow- 
erful and those that are weak. Right must be based upon 
the common strength, not upon the individual strength, of 
the nations upon whose concert peace will depend. Equal- 
ity of territory or of resources there of course cannot be; 
nor any other sort of equality not gained in the ordinary 
peaceful and legitimate development of the peoples them- 
selves. But no one asks or expects anything more than an 
equality of rights. Mankind is looking now for freedom of 
life, not for equipoises of power. 

"And there is a deeper thing involved than even equality 
of right among organized nations. No peace can last, or 
ought to last, which does not recognize and accept the prin- 
ciple that Governments derive all their just powers from the 
consent of the governed, and that no right anywhere exists 
to hand peoples about from sovereignty to sovereignty as if 
they were property. I take it for granted, for instance, if I 
may venture upon a single example, that statesmen every- 
where are agreed that there should be a united, independent, 
and autonomous Poland, and that henceforth inviolable se- 
curity of life, of worship, and of industrial and social devel- 
opment should be guaranteed to all peoples who have lived 
hitherto under the powerof Governments devoted to a faith 
and purpose hostile to their own. * * * 

"So far as practicable, moreover, every great people now 
struggling toward a full development of its resources and of 
its powers should be assured a direct outlet to the great 
highways of the sea. Where this cannot be done by the 
cession of territory, it can no doubt be done by the neutrali- 
zation of direct rights of way under the general guarantee 
which will assure the peace itself. With a right comity of 
arrangement, no nation need be shut away from free access 
to the open paths of the world's commerce. 

"And the paths of the sea must alike in law and in fact 
be free. The freedom of the seas is the sine qua non of 
peace, equality, and cooperation. No doubt a somewhat 
radical reconsideration of many of the rules of interna- 
tional practice hitherto thought to be established may be 

[89] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



necessary in order to make the seas indeed free and com- 
mon in practically all circumstances for the use of man- 
kind, but the motive for such changes is convincing and 
compelling. There can be no trust or intimacy between the 
peoples of the world without them. The free, constant, un- 
threatened intercourse of nations is an essential part of the 
process of peace and of development. It need not be diffi- 
cult either to define or to secure the freedom of the seas if 
the Governments of the world sincerely desire to come to an 
agreement concerning it. 

"It is a problem closely connected with the limitation of 
naval armaments and the cooperation of the navies of the 
world in keeping the seas at once free and safe. And the 
question of limiting naval armaments opens the wider and 
perhaps more difficult question of the limitations of armies 
and of all programmes of military preparation. Difficult 
and delicate as these questions are, they must be faced with 
the utmost candor and decided in a spirit of real accommo- 
dation if peace is to come with healing in its wings, and 
come to stay. Peace cannot be had without concession 
and sacrifice. There can be no sense of safety and equality 
among the nations if great preponderating armaments are 
henceforth to continue here and there to be built up and 
maintained. The statesmen of the world must plan for 
peace and nations must adjust and accommodate their pol- 
icy to it as they have planned for war and made ready for 
pitiless contest and rivalry. The question of armaments, 
whether on land or sea, is the most immediately and in- 
tensely practical question connected with the future for- 
tunes of nations and of mankind." 

Germany Withdraws 
Her Submarine Pledge 

ON JANUARY 31, 1917, the German Ambassador 
handed to the American Secretary of State a note 
withdrawing forthwith the pledge made after the Sussex 
affair, which pledge promised that merchant ships should 

[90] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



not be sunk without warning and that neutral lives and 
property should be protected. The German note read: 

"Mr. Secretary of State: 

**Your Excellency was good enough to transmit to the 
Imperial Government a copy of the message which the 
President of the United States of America addressed to the 
Senate on the 22nd inst. The Imperial Government has 
given it the earnest consideration which the President's 
statements deserve, inspired, as they are, by a deep senti- 
ment of responsibility. 

**It is highly gratifying to the Imperial Government to 
ascertain that the main tendencies of this important state- 
ment correspond largely to the desires and principles pro- 
fessed by Germany. These principles especially include self- 
government and equality of rights for all nations. Ger- 
many would be sincerely glad if in recognition of this prin- 
ciple, countries like Ireland and India, which do not enjoy 
the benefits of political independence, should now obtain 
their freedom. 

**The German people also repudiate all alliances which 
serve to force the countries into a competition for might 
and to involve them in a net of selfish intrigues. On the 
other hand, Germany will gladly cooperate in all efforts to 
prevent future wars. 

"The freedom of the seas, being a preliminary condition 
of the free existence of nations and the peaceful intercourse 
between them, as well as the open door for the commerce 
of all nations, has always formed part of the leading princi- 
ples of Germany's poHtical program. All the more the Im- 
perial Government regrets that the attitude of her enemies, 
who are so entirely opposed to peace, makes it impossible 
for the world at present to bring about the realization of 
these lofty ideals. 

**Germany and her allies were ready to enter now into a 
discussion of peace, and had set down as basis the guaran- 
tee of existence, honor, and free development of their peo- 
ples. Their aims, as has been expressly stated in the note 

[91 ] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



of December 12th, 1916, were not directed toward the de- 
struction or annihilation of their enemies and were, accord- 
ing to their conviction, perfectly compatible with the rights 
of the other nations. As to Belgium, for which such warm 
and cordial sympathy is felt in the United States, the Chan- 
cellor had declared only a few weeks previously that its an- 
nexation had never formed part of Germany's intentions. 
The peace to be signed with Belgium was to provide for 
such conditions in that country, with which Germany de- 
sires to maintain friendly neighborly relations, that Bel- 
gium should not be used again by Germany's enemies for 
the purpose of instigating continuous hostile intrigues. Such 
precautionary measures are all the more necessary, as Ger- 
many's enemies have repeatedly stated, not only in speeches 
delivered by their leading men, but also in the statutes of 
the Economical Conference in Paris, that it is their inten- 
tion not to treat Germany as an equal, even after peace 
has been restored, but to continue their hostile attitude and 
especially to wage a systematical economic war against her. 

"The attempt of the four Allied Powers to bring about 
peace has failed, owing to the lust of conquest of their ene- 
mies, who desired to dictate the conditions of peace. Under 
the pretence of following the principle of nationality, our 
enemies have disclosed their real aims in this way, viz: To 
dismember and dishonor Germany, Austria-Hungary, Tur- 
key, and Bulgaria. To the wish of reconciliation they op- 
pose the will of destruction. They desire a fight to the bit- 
ter end. 

"A new situation has thus been created which forces Ger- 
many to new decisions.' Since two years and a half Eng- 
land is using her naval power for a criminal attempt to force 
Germany into submission by starvation. In brutal con- 
tempt of international law, the group of powers led by Eng- 
land does not only curtail the legitimate trade of their op- 
ponents, but they also, by ruthless pressure, compel neutral 
countries either to altogether forego every trade not agree- 
able to the Entente Powers or to limit it according to their 
arbitrary decrees. 

[ 92] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



"The American Government knows the steps which have 
been taken to cause England and her allies to return to the 
rules of international law and to respect the freedom of the 
seas. The English Government, however, insists upon con- 
tinuing its war of starvation, which does not at all affect 
the military power of its opponents, but compels women 
and children, the sick and the aged, to suffer for their coun- 
try pains and privations which endanger the vitality of the 
nation. Thus British tyranny mercilessly increases the suf- 
ferings of the world, indifferent to the laws of humanity, in- 
different to the protests of the neutrals whom they severely 
harm, indifferent even to the silent longing for peace among 
England's own allies. Each day of the terrible struggle 
causes new destruction, new sufferings. Each day shorten- 
ing the war will, on both sides, preserve the lives of thou- 
sands of brave soldiers and be a benefit to mankind. 

"The Imperial Government could not justify before its 
own conscience, before the German people and before history 
the neglect of any means destined to bring about the end 
of the war. Like the President of the United States, the 
Imperial Government had hoped to reach this goal by ne- 
gotiations. After the attempts to come to an understanding 
with the Entente Powers have been answered by the latter 
with the announcement of an intensified continuation of 
the war, the Imperial Government, in order to serve the 
welfare of mankind in a higher sense and not to wrong its 
own people, is now compelled to continue the fight for ex- 
istence, again forced upon it, with the full employment of 
all the weapons which are at its disposal. 

"Sincerely trusting that the people and the Government 
of the United States will understand the motives for this 
decision and its necessity, the Imperial Government hopes 
that the United States may view the new situation from the 
lofty heights of impartiahty, and assist, on their part, to pre- 
vent further misery and unavoidable sacrifice of human life. 

"Enclosing two memoranda regarding the details of the con- 
templated military measures at sea, I remain, etc." 

J. Bernstorff 

[93] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



This note was accompanied by a memorandum stating 
the extent and terms of the submarine blockade. The area 
included the coasts of the British Isles, France, Belgium, 
part of Holland, the North coast of Spain, and all of the 
Mediterranean Sea east from the boundary of France and 
Spain. A lane of safety was granted for one American ship 
a week to Falmouth, England, and a similar lane twenty 
miles wide was left near the south coast of the Mediterra- 
nean for vessels bound for Greece. 



[94] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



■^HE UNITED STATES BREAKS 
WITH GERMANY 



ON FEBRUARY 3, 1917, President Wilson directed that 
passports be handed to German Ambassador BernstorfF 
and that Ambassador Gerard be recalled from Berlin. His 
action in severing relations with Germany was announced 
in the following address before Congress: 

The President's 
Address to Congress 

"Gentlemen of the Congress: 

**npHE Imperial German Government on the 31st of Janu- 
-^ ary announced to this Government and to the Govern- 
ments of the other neutral nations that on and after the 
first day of February, the present month, it would adopt 
a policy with regard to the use of submarines against all 
shipping seeking to pass through certain designated areas of 
the high seas, to which it is clearly my duty to call your 
attention. 

"Let me remind the Congress that on the i8th of April 
last, in view of the sinking, on the 24th of March, of the 
cross-channel passenger steamer Sussex by a German sub- 
marine, without summons or warning, and the consequent 
loss of the lives of several citizens of the United States who 
were passengers aboard her, this Government addressed a 
note to the Imperial German Government, in which it made 
the following declaration: 

If it is still the purpose of the Imperial German Gov- 
ernment to prosecute relentless and indiscriminate war- 
fare against vessels of commerce by the use of sub- 
marines, without regard to what the Government of 
the United States must consider the sacred and indis- 
putable rules of international law and the universally 
recognized dictates of humanity, the Government of 
the United States is at last forced to the conclusion that 

[95] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



there is but one course it can pursue. Unless the Im- 
perial Government should now immediately declare 
and effect an abandonment of its present methods of 
submarine warfare against passenger and freight-carry- 
ing vessels, the Government of the United States can 
have no choice but to sever diplomatic relations with 
the German Empire altogether. 

Quotes Reassurance 
From Germany 

TN REPLY to this declaration the Imperial German 
-*■ Government gave this Government the following as- 
surance : 

The German Government is prepared to do its ut- 
most to confine the operation of war, for the rest of its 
duration, to the fighting forces of the belligerents, 
thereby also insuring the freedom of the seas, a prin- 
ciple upon which the German Government believes 
now, as before, to be in agreement with the Govern- 
ment of the United States. 

The German Government, guided by this idea, noti- 
fies the Government of the United States that the 
German naval forces have received the following or- 
ders: In accordance with the general principles of 
visit and search and destruction of merchant vessels, 
recognized by international law, such vessels, both with- 
in and without the area declared a naval war zone, 
shall not be sunk without warning and without saving 
human lives, unless these ships attempt to escape or 
offer resistance. 

But, it added, neutrals cannot expect that Germany, 
forced to fight for her existence, shall, for the sake of 
neutral interest, restrict the use of an effective weapon 
if her enemy is permitted to continue to apply at will 
methods of warfare violating the rules of international 
law. Such a demand would be incompatible with the 
character of neutrality, and the German Government 

[96] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



is convinced that the Government of the United States 
does not think of making such a demand, knowing that 
the Government of the United States has repeatedly 
declared that it is determined to restore the principle 
of the freedom of the seas, from whatever quarter it 
has been violated. 

America's Acceptance 
OF Terms 

**^ I ^O THIS the Government of the United States replied 
-*- on the 8th of May, accepting, of course, the assurances 
given, but adding: 

The Government of the United States feels it neces- 
sary to state that it takes it for granted that the Im- 
perial German Government does not intend to imply 
that the maintenance of its newly announced policy is 
in any way contingent upon the course or result of 
diplomatic negotiations between the Government of 
the United States and any other belHgerent Govern- 
ment, notwithstanding the fact that certain passages in 
the Imperial Government's note of the 4th inst. might 
appear to be susceptible of that construction. 

In order, however, to avoid any misunderstanding, 
the Government of the United States notifies the Im- 
perial Government that it cannot for a moment enter- 
tain, much less discuss, a suggestion that respect by 
German naval authorities for the rights of citizens of 
the United States upon the high seas should in any way, 
or in the slightest degree, be made contingent upon 
the conduct of any other Government affecting the 
rights of neutrals and non combatants. Responsibility 
in such matters is single, not joint; absolute, not rela- 
tive. 

"To this note of the 8th of May the Imperial German 
Government made no reply. 

[97] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



Clause that 
Severed Relations 

**/^N THE 31st of January, the Wednesday of the present 
^^ week, the German Ambassador handed to the Secre- 
tary of State, along with a formal note, a memorandum 
which contained the following statement: 

The Imperial Government, therefore, does not doubt 
that the Government of the United States will under- 
stand the situation thus forced upon Germany by the 
Entente Allies' brutal methods of war and by their de- 
termination to destroy the Central Powers, and that 
the Government of the United States will further real- 
ize that the now openly disclosed intention of the En- 
tente Allies gives back to Germany the freedom of ac- 
tion which she reserved in her note addressed to the 
Government of the United States on May 4, 1916. 

Under these circumstances, Germany will meet the 
illegal measures of her enemies by forcibly preventing, 
after Feb. i, 1917, in a zone around Great Britain, 
France, Italy and in the Eastern Mediterranean, all 
navigation, that of neutrals included, from and to 
England and from and to France, etc., etc. All ships 
met within the zone will be sunk. 

"I think that you will agree with me that, in view of this 
declaration, which suddenly and without prior intimation 
of any kind deliberately withdraws the solemn assurance 
given in the Imperial Government's note of the 4th of May, 
1916, this Government has no alternative consistent with 
the dignity and honor of the United States but to take 
the course, which, in its note of the i8th of April, 1916, it 
announced that it would take in the event that the Ger- 
man Government did not declare and effect an abandon- 
ment of the methods of submarine warfare which it was 
then employing and to which it now purposes again to re- 
sort. 

"I have, therefore, directed the Secretary of State to an- 
nounce to His Excellency, the German Ambassador, that 

[ 98] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



all diplomatic relations between the United States and the 
German Empire are severed and that the American Am- 
bassador at Berlin will immediately be withdrawn; and, in 
accordance with this decision, to hand to His Excellency his 
passports. 

"Notwithstanding this unexpected action of the German 
Government, this sudden and deeply deplorable renuncia- 
tion of its assurances given this Government at one of the 
most critical moments of tension in the relations of the two 
Governments, I refuse to believe that it is the intention of 
the German authorities to do, in fact, what they have warned 
us they will feel at liberty to do. 

*'I cannot bring myself to believe that they will indeed 
pay no regard to the ancient friendship between their peo- 
ple and our own, or to the solemn obligations which have 
been exchanged between them, and destroy American ships 
and take the lives of American citizens in the wilful prose- 
cution of the ruthless naval programme they have an- 
nounced their intention to adopt. Only actual overt acts 
on their part can make me believe it even now. 

"If this inveterate confidence on my part in the sobriety 
and prudent foresight of their purpose should unhappily 
prove unfounded; if American ships and American lives 
should, in fact, be sacrificed by their naval commanders in 
heedless contravention of the just and reasonable under- 
standings of international law and the obvious dictates of 
humanity, I shall take the liberty of coming again before 
the Congress to ask that authority be given me to use any 
means that may be necessary for the protection of our sea- 
men and our people in the prosecution of their peaceful and 
legitimate errands on the high seas. I can do nothing 
less. I take it for granted that all neutral governments will 
take the same course. 

"We do not desire any hostile conflict with the Imperial 
Government. We are the sincere friends of the German 
people, and earnestly desire to remain at peace with the 
Government which speaks for them. 

"We shall not beheve that they are hostile to us unless 

[99 ] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



and until we are obliged to believe it; and we purpose noth- 
ing more than the reasonable defense of the undoubted 
rights of our people. We wish to serve no selfish ends. We 
seek merely to stand true alike in thought and in action to 
the immemorial principles of our people, which I have 
sought to express in my address to the Senate only two 
weeks ago — seek merely to vindicate our right to liberty 
and justice and an unmolested life. 

"These are the bases of peace, not war. God grant that 
we may not be challenged to defend them by acts of wilful 
injustice on the part of the Government of Germany!" 

American interests in Germany were entrusted to the 
Spanish Ambassador and German interests in America to 
the Minister for Switzerland. 

The President 

Refuses Overtures from 

Germany to Parley 

ON FEBRUARY ii, 1917, a suggestion was made orally 
to the Department of State by the Minister of Switzer- 
land that the German Government was willing to negotiate 
with the United States, provided that the commercial 
blockade against England would not be interfered with. 
On request, the suggestion was made in writing and de- 
livered on the following evening, as follows: 

"The Swiss Government has been requested by the Ger- 
man Government to say that the latter is, now as before, 
willing to negotiate, formally or informally, with the Uni- 
ted States, provided that the commercial blockade against 
England will not be broken thereby." 

P. RiTTER 

The following reply was dispatched: 

"My Dear Mr. Minister: I am requested by the 
President to say to you, in acknowledging the memoran- 
dum which you were kind enough to send me on the 
nth inst., that the Government of the United States 
would gladly discuss with the German Government any 

[ 100 ] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



questions it might propose for discussion, were it to 
withdraw its proclamation of the 31st of January, in 
which, suddenly and without previous intimation of any 
kind, it canceled the assurances which it had given this 
Government on the 4th of May last, but that it does not 
feel that it can enter into any discussion with the German 
Government concerning the policy of submarine warfare 
against neutrals which it is now pursuing unless and until 
the German Government renews its assurances of the 4th 
of May and acts upon the assurance. I am, my dear Mr. 
Minister, etc." 



Robert Lansing 



His Excellency y Dr. Paul Ritter, 

Minister of Switzerland. 



President Wilson's Address 

TO Congress on Armed Neutrality 

February 26, 1917 

GENTLEMEN OF THE CONGRESS: I have again 
asked the privilege of addressing you because we are 
moving through critical times during which it seems to me 
to be my duty to keep in close touch with the houses of 
Congress, so that neither counsel nor action shall run at 
cross-purposes between us. 

"On the 3d of February I officially informed you of the 
sudden and unexpected action of the Imperial German 
Government in declaring its intention to disregard the 
promises it had made to this Government in April last and 
undertake immediate submarine operations against all com- 
merce, whether of belHgerents or of neutrals, that should 
seek to approach Great Britain and Ireland, the Atlantic 
coasts of Europe or the harbors of the eastern Mediterranean 
and to conduct those operations without regard to the 
established restrictions of international practice, without 
regard to any considerations of humanity even which might 
interfere with their object. 

"That policy was forthwith put into practice. It has now 
been in active exhibition for nearly four weeks. Its practical 

[ 101 ] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



results are not fully disclosed. The commerce of other 
neutral nations is suffering severely, but not, perhaps, very 
much more severely than it was already suffering before the 
1st of February, when the new policy of the Imperial Govern- 
ment was put into operation. 

"We have asked the cooperation of the other neutral 
Governments to prevent these depredations, but I fear none 
of them has thought it wise to join us in any common course 
of action. Our own commerce has suffered, is suffering, 
rather in apprehension than in fact, rather because so many 
of our ships are timidly keeping to their home ports than 
because American ships have been sunk. 

**Two American vessels have been sunk, the Housatonic 
and the Lyman M. Law. The case of the Housatonic, which 
was carrying foodstuffs consigned to a London firm, was 
essentially like the case of the Frye, in which, it will be 
recalled, the German Government admitted its liability for 
damages, and the lives of the crew, as in the case of the Frye, 
were safeguarded with reasonable care. 

"The case of the Law, which was carrying lemon-box 
staves to Palermo, disclosed a ruthlessness of method which 
deserves grave condemnation, but was accompanied by no 
circumstances which might not have been expected at any 
time in connection with the use of the submarine against 
merchantmen as the German Government has used it. 

"In sum, therefore, the situation we find ourselves in 
with regard to the actual conduct of the German submarine 
warfare against commerce and its effects upon our own 
ships and people is substantially the same that it was when 
I addressed you on the 3d of February, except for the tying 
up of our shipping in our own ports because of the unwilHng- 
ness of our ship owners to risk their vessels at sea without 
insurance or adequate protection, and the very serious con- 
gestion of our commerce which has resulted — a congestion 
which is growing rapidly more and more serious every day. 

"This, in itself, might presently accomplish, in effect, what 
the new German submarine orders were meant to accom- 
plish, so far as we are concerned. We can only say, there- 

[ 102 ] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



fore, that the overt act which I have ventured to hope the 
German commanders would in fact avoid has not occurred. 

"But while this is happily true, it must be admitted that 
there have been certain additional indications and expressions 
of purpose on the part of the German press and the German 
authorities, which have increased rather than lessened the 
impression that, if our ships and our people are spared, it 
will be because of fortunate circumstances or because the 
commanders of the German submarines which they may hap- 
pen to encounter exercise an unexpected discretion and re- 
straint, rather than because of the instructions under which 
those commanders are acting. 

"It would be foolish to deny that the situation is fraught 
with the gravest possibilities and dangers. No thoughtful 
man can fail to see that the necessity for definite action may 
come at any time, if we are, in fact and not in word merely, 
to defend our elementary rights as a neutral nation. It 
would be most imprudent to be unprepared. 

"I cannot in such circumstances be unmindful of the fact 
that the expiration of the term of the present Congress is 
immediately at hand by constitutional limitation and that 
it would in all likeHhood require an unusual length of time to 
assemble and organize the Congress which is to succeed it. 

"I feel that I ought, in view of that fact, to obtain from 
you full and immediate assurance of the authority which I 
may need at any moment to exercise. No doubt I already 
possess that authority without special warrant of law, by 
the plain implication of my constitutional duties and powers; 
but I prefer in the present circumstances not to act upon 
general implication. I wish to feel that the authority and 
the power of the Congress are behind me in whatever it may 
become necessary for me to do. We are jointly the servants 
of the people and must act together and in their spirit, so 
far as we can divine and interpret it. 

"No one doubts what it is our duty to do. We must de- 
fend our commerce and the lives of our people in the midst 
of the present trying circumstances with discretion but with 
clear and steadfast purpose. Only the method and the 

[ 103] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



extent remain to be chosen, upon the occasion, if occasion 
should indeed arise. 

"Since it has unhappily proved impossible to safeguard 
our neutral rights by diplomatic means against the un- 
warranted infringements they are suffering at the hands of 
Germany, there may be no recourse but to armed neu- 
trality, which we shall know how to maintain and for which 
there is abundant American precedent. 

"It is devoutly to be hoped that it will not be necessary 
to put armed forces anywhere into action. The American 
people do not desire it, and our desire is not different from 
theirs. I am sure that they will understand the spirit in 
which I am now acting, the purpose I hold nearest my heart 
and would wish to exhibit in everything I do. 

"I am anxious that the people of the nations at war also 
should understand and not mistrust us. I hope that I need 
give no further proofs and assurances than I have already 
given throughout nearly three years of anxious patience 
that I am the friend of peace and mean to preserve it for 
America so long as I am able. I am not now proposing or 
contemplating war or any steps that need lead to it. I 
merely request that you will accord me by your own vote and 
definite bestowal the means and the authority to safeguard 
in practice the right of a great people, who are at peace and 
who are desirous of exercising none but the rights of peace, 
to follow the pursuit of peace in quietness and good-will 
— rights recognized time out of mind by all the civilized 
nations of the world. 

"No course of my choosing or of theirs will lead to war. 
War can come only by the wilful acts and aggressions of 
others. 

"You will understand why I can make no definite pro- 
posals or forecasts of action now and must ask for your 
supporting authority in the most general terms. The 
form in which action may become necessary cannot yet be 
foreseen. 

"I believe that the people will be willing to trust me to act 
with restraint, with prudence, and in the true spirit of amity 

[ 104 ] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



and good faith that they have themselves displayed through- 
out these trying months; and it is in that behef that I re- 
quest that you will authorize me to supply our merchant 
ships with defensive arms, should that become necessary, 
and with the means of using them, and to employ any other 
instrumentalities or methods that may be necessary and 
adequate to protect our ships and our people in their legiti- 
mate and peaceful pursuits on the seas. I request also that 
you will grant me at the same time, along with the powers I 
ask, a sufficient credit to enable me to provide adequate 
means of protection where they are lacking, including ade- 
quate insurance against the present war risks. 

"I have spoken of our commerce and of the legitimate 
errands of our people on the seas, but you will not be misled 
as to my main thought — the thought that lies beneath these 
phrases and gives them dignity and weight. It is not of 
material interest merely that we are thinking. It is, rather, 
of fundamental human rights, chief of all the right of life 
itself. 

"I am thinking not only of the rights of Americans to go 
and come about their proper business by way of the sea, 
but also of something much deeper, much more fundamental 
than that. I am thinking of those rights of humanity with- 
out which there is no civilization. My theme is of those 
great principles of compassion and of protection which 
mankind has sought to throw about human lives, the lives 
of noncombatants, the lives of men who are peacefully at 
work keeping the industrial processes of the world quick and 
vital, the lives of women and children and of those who sup- 
ply the labor which ministers to their sustenance. We are 
speaking of no selfish material rights, but of rights which 
our hearts support and whose foundation is that righteous 
passion for justice upon which all law, all structures alike of 
family, of state, and of mankind must rest, as upon the 
ultimate base of our existence and our liberty. 

*'I cannot imagine any man with American principles at 
his heart hesitating to defend these things. " 

[ 105 ] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



LOYD GEORGE'S 
J, LINCOLN DAY ADDRESS 



IN response to a request by the New York Times Premier 
Lloyd George of Great Britain issued this Lincoln's 
Birthday address to the American people, drawing a parallel 
between the present European struggle and the American 
Civil War of 1861-1865. 

"I am very glad to respond to your request for a message 
for publication on Lincoln Day. I am glad because to 
my mind Abraham Lincoln has always been one of the very 
first of the world's statesmen, because I believe that the 
battle which we have been lighting is at bottom the same 
battle which your countrymen fought under Lincoln's 
leadership more than fifty years ago, and most of all, per- 
haps, because I desire to say how much I welcome the 
proof which the last few days have afforded that the Ameri- 
can people are coming to realize this, too. 

"Lincoln's life was devoted to the cause of human free- 
dom. From the day when he first recognized what slavery 
meant he bent all his energies to its eradication from 
American soil. Yet after years of patient effort he was 
driven to realize that it was not a mere question of abolish- 
ing slavery in the Southern States, but that bound up with 
it was a larger issue: That unless the Union abolished 
slavery, slavery would break up the Union. 

"Faced by this alternative, he did not shrink, after every 
other method had failed, from vindicating both Union and 
freedom by the terrible instrument of war. Nor after the 
die for war had been cast did he hesitate to call upon his 
countrymen to make sacrifice upon sacrifice, to submit to 
limitation upon limitation of their personal freedom, until, 
in his own words, there was a new birth of freedom in 
your land. 

"Is there not a strange similarity between this battle, 
which we are fighting here in Europe, and that which 
Lincoln fought ? Has there not grown up in this continent a 

[ 106 ] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



new form of slavery, a militarist slavery, which has not only 
been crushing out the freedom of the people under its con- 
trol, but which in recent years has also been moving toward 
crushing out freedom and fraternity in all Europe as well? 

"Is it not true that it is to the militarist system of Gov- 
ernment which centres in Berlin that every open-minded 
man who is familiar with past history would point as being 
the ultimate source of all the expansion of armaments, of 
all the international unrest, and of the failure of all move- 
ments toward cooperation and harmony among nations 
during the last twenty years? 

"We were reluctant, and many of us refused to believe 
that any sane rulers would deliberately drench Europe 
in its own blood, so we did not face the facts until it was 
almost too late. It was not until August, 1914, that it 
became clear to us, as it became clear to Lincoln in 1861, 
that the issue was not to be settled by pacific means, and 
that either the machine which controlled the destinies 
of Germany would destroy the liberty of Europe or the 
people of Europe must defeat its purpose and its prestige 
by the supreme sacrifice of war. It was the ultimatum 
to Serbia and the ruthless attack upon Belgium and 
France which followed because the nations of Europe 
would not tolerate the obliteration of the independence 
of a free people without conference and by the sword, 
which revealed to us all the implacable nature of the 
struggle which lay before us. 

"It has been difficult for a nation separated from Europe 
by 3,cx>D miles of sea and without political connections 
with its peoples, to appreciate fully what was at stake 
in the war. In your civil war many of our ancestors were 
blind. Lord Russell hinted at an early peace. Even Glad- 
stone declared *we have no faith in the propagation of 
free institutions at the point of the sword.* It was left 
for John Bright, that man of all others who most loved 
peace and hated war, to testify that when our statesmen 
*were hostile or coldly neutral the British people clung 
to freedom with an unfaltering trust.' But I think that 

[ 107 ] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



America now sees that it is human unity and freedom which 
are again being fought for in this war. 

"The American people under Lincoln fought not a war 
of conquest, but a war of hberation. We today are fight- 
ing not a war of conquest, but a war of liberation — a liber- 
ation not of ourselves alone, but of all the world, from 
that body of barbarous doctrine and inhuman practice 
which has estranged nations, has held back the unity and 
progress of the world, and which has stood revealed in all 
its deadly iniquity in the course of this war. 

"In such wars for liberty there can be no compromise. 
They are either won or lost. In your case it was freedom 
and unity or slavery and separation; in our case military 
power, tyrannously used, will have succeeded in tearing 
up treaties and trampling on the rights of others, or liberty 
and public right will have prevailed. Therefore we believe 
that the war must be fought out to a finish, for on such 
an issue there can be no such thing as a drawn war. 

"In holding this conviction we have been inspired and 
strengthened beyond measure by the example and the 
words of your great President. Once the conflict had 
been joined, he did not shrink from bloodshed. I have 
often been struck at the growth of both tenderness and 
stern determination in the face of Lincoln, as shown in 
his photographs, as the war went on. 

"Despite his abhorrence of all that war entailed, he per- 
sisted in it because he knew that he was sparing life by 
losing it; that if he agreed to compromise the blood that 
had been shed on a hundred fields would have been shed in 
vain; that the task of creating a united nation of free men 
would only have to be undertaken at even greater cost 
at some later day. It would, indeed, be impossible to state 
our faith more clearly than Lincoln stated it himself at 
the end of 1864. 

" *0n careful consideration', he said *of all the evidence, 
it seems to me that no attempt at negotiation with the 
insurgent leader could result in any good. He would accept 
nothing short of severance of the Union, precisely what 

[ 108 ] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



we will not and cannot give. His declarations to this effect 
are explicit and oft repeated. He does not deceive us. 
He affords us no excuse to deceive ourselves; * * * be- 
tween him and us the issue is distinct, simple and inflex- 
ible. It is an issue which can only be tried by war and 
decided by victory.' 

"That was the judgment of the greatest statesman of the 
nineteenth century during the last great war for human 
liberty. It is the judgment of this nation and of its fellow- 
nations overseas today. 

" *Our armies/ said Lincoln, *are ministers of good, not 
evil.' So we do believe. And through all the carnage 
and suffering and conflicting motives of the civil war, 
Lincoln held steadfastly to the beHef that it was the free- 
dom of the people to govern themselves which was the 
fundamental issue at stake. So do we today. For when 
the people of Central Europe accept the peace which is 
offered them by the Allies, not only will the allied peoples 
be free, as they have never been free before, but the Ger- 
man people, too, will find that in losing their dream of 
an empire over others they have found self-government 
for themselves." 

D. Lloyd George 



[ 109] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



American merchant ships armed 



Jr\ 



The Department of State sent the following statement 
to all foreign missions in Washington for their information: 

Department of State 
Washington, March 12, 1917 

** TN VIEW of the announcement of the Imperial German 
-^ Government on January 31, 1917, that all ships, those of 
neutrals included, met within certain zones of the high 
seas, would be sunk without any precautions being taken 
for the safety of the persons on board, and without the 
exercise of visit and search, the Government of the United 
States has determined to place upon all American mer- 
chant vessels sailing through the barred areas an armed 
guard for the protection of the vessels and the lives of 
the persons on board." 

A State of War 

This announcement of the determined attitude of the 
Government of the United States, on the subject of sub- 
marine warfare, revealed to the American people our 
irrevocable attitude toward Germany and convinced 
the Imperial German Government that we were not for 
peace at any price. At once the censored German press 
was allowed to print articles announcing that the U 
boats would sink any ships in the barred zone. This 
policy was signalized by the sinking of the armed mer- 
chantman, the Aztec, in command of Lieut. Greshem, U. S. 
N., thus virtually attacking the armed forces of the United 
States. 

Immediately upon the reassembling of Congress April 2nd 
the President, in an address to the joint session, advised 
that a state of war existed and called for his constitutional 
authority to prosecute war against the Imperial German 
Government. 

[ 110] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



""^RESIDENT WILSON'S CALL FOR 
DECLARATION OF WAR 



"Gentlemen or the Congress:" 

** T HAVE called the Congress into extraordinary session be- 
-■■ cause there are serious, very serious, choices of policy to 
be made, and made immediately, which it was neither right 
nor constitutionally permissible that I should assume the 
responsibility of making. 

"On the 3d of February last I officially laid before you the 
extraordinary announcement of the Imperial German Gov- 
ernment that on and after the first day of February it was 
its purpose to put aside all restraints of law or of humanity 
and use its submarines to sink every vessel that sought to 
approach either the ports of Great Britain and Ireland or 
the western coasts of Europe or any of the ports controlled 
by the enemies of Germany within the Mediterranean. 
That had seemed to be the object of the German submarine 
warfare earlier in the war, but since April of last year, the 
Imperial Government had somewhat restrained the com- 
manders of its undersea craft, in conformity with its prom- 
ise, then given to us, that passenger boats should not be 
sunk and that due warning would be given to all other 
vessels which its submarines might seek to destroy, when 
no resistance was offered or escape attempted, and care 
taken that their crews were given at least a fair chance to 
save their lives in their open boats. The precautions taken 
were meagre and haphazard enough, as was proved in dis- 
tressing instance after instance in the progress of the cruel 
and unmanly business, but a certain degree of restraint was 
observed. The new policy has swept every restriction aside. 
Vessels of every kind, whatever their flag, their character, 
their cargo, their destination, their errand, have been ruth- 
lessly sent to the bottom without warning and without 
thought of help or mercy for those on board, the vessels of 
friendly neutrals along with those of belligerents. Even hos- 
pital ships and ships carrying relief to the sorely bereaved and 

[111] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



Stricken people of Belgium, though the latter were pro- 
vided with safe conduct through the proscribed areas by 
the German Government itself and were distinguished by 
unmistakable marks of identity, have been sunk with the 
same reckless lack of compassion or of principle. 

A Warfare Against Mankind 

** T WAS for a little while unable to believe that such things 
-■- would in fact be done by any Government that had hitherto 
subscribed to the humane practices of civilized nations. In- 
ternational law had its origin in the attempt to set up some 
law which would be respected and observed upon the seas, 
where no nation has right of dominion and where lay the 
free highways of the world. By painful stage after stage 
has that law been built up, with meagre enough results, 
indeed, after all was accomplished that could be accom- 
plished, but always with a clear view, at least, of what the 
heart and conscience of mankind demanded. This mini- 
mum of right the German Government has swept aside, under 
the plea of retaHation and necessity and because it had no 
weapons which it could use at sea except these, which it 
is impossible to employ, as it is employing them, without 
throwing to the winds all scruples of humanity or of respect 
for the understandings that were supposed to underlie the 
intercourse of the world. I am not now thinking of the loss 
of property involved, immense and serious as that is, but only 
of the wanton and wholesale destruction of the lives of non- 
combatants, men, women, and children, engaged in pursuits 
which have always even in the darkest periods of modern 
history, been deemed innocent and legitimate. Property 
can be paid for; the lives of peaceful and innocent people 
cannot be. The present German submarine warfare against 
commerce is a warfare against mankind. 

Vindication of Human Right 

** TT IS a war against all nations. American ships have 
-^ been sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has 
stirred us very deeply to learn of, but the ships and people 

[112] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



of Other neutral and friendly nations have been sunk and 
overwhelmed in the waters in the same way. There has been 
no discrimination. The challenge is to all mankind. Each 
nation must decide for itself how it will meet it. The 
choice we make for ourselves must be made with a modera- 
tion of counsel and a temperateness of judgment befitting our 
character and our motives as a nation. We must put ex- 
cited feeling away. Our motive will not be revenge or the 
victorious assertion of the physical might of the nation, but 
only the vindication of right, of human right, of which we 
are only a single champion. 

Submarines, as Used, Outlaws 

** TXT'HEN I addressed the Congress on the 26th of February 
^ ^ last I thought that it would suffice to assert our neutral 
rights with arms, our right to use the seas against unlawful 
interference, our right to keep our people safe against 
unlawful violence. But armed neutrality, it now appears, 
is impracticable. Because submarines are in effect outlaws, 
when used as the German submarines have been used 
against merchant shipping, it is impossible to defend ships 
against their attacks as the law of nations has assumed 
that merchantmen would defend themselves against priva- 
teers or cruisers, visible craft giving chase upon the open 
sea. It is common prudence in such circumstances, grim 
necessity indeed, to endeavor to destroy them before they 
have shown their own intention. They must be dealt with 
upon sight, if dealt with at all. The German Government 
denies the right of neutrals to use arms at all within the 
areas of the sea which it has proscribed, even in the de- 
fense of rights which no modern publicist has ever before 
questioned their right to defend. The intimation is con- 
veyed that the armed guards which we have placed on 
our merchant ships will be treated as beyond the pale of 
law and subject to be dealt with as pirates would be. Armed 
neutrahty is ineffectual enough at best; in such circumstances 
and in the face of such pretensions it is worse than ineffectual: 
it is likely only to produce what it was meant to prevent; it is 

[ 113] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



practically certain to draw us into the war without either the 
rights or the eflFectiveness of beUigerents. There is one choice 
we cannot make, we are incapable of making: we will not 
choose the path of submission and suffer t\\e most sacred 
rights of our nation and our people to be ignored or violated. 
The wrongs against which we now array ourselves are no 
common wrongs; they cut to the very roots of human life. 

Immediate Steps Against Germany 

**TX7'ITH a profound sense of the solemn and even tragical 
' ' character of the step I am taking and of the grave re- 
sponsibilities which it involves, but in unhesitating obedience 
to what I deem my constitutional duty, I advise that the 
Congress declare the recent course of the Imperial German 
Government to be in fact nothing less than war against the 
Government and people of the United States; that it formally 
accept the status of belligerent which has thus been thrust 
upon it; and that it take immediate steps not only to put the 
country in a more thorough state of defense, but also to 
exert all its power and employ all its resources to bring the 
Government of the German Empire to terms and end the war. 

Counsel and Action With the Allies 

'TTTHAT this will involve is clear. It will involve the ut- 
^ ' most practicable co-operation in counsel and action with 
the Governments now at war with Germany, and, as inci- 
dent to that, the extension to those Governments of the 
most liberal financial credits, in order that our resources 
may so far as possible be added to theirs. It will involve 
the organization and mobilization of all the material 
resources of the country to supply the materials of war 
and serve the incidental needs of the nation in the most 
abundant and yet the most economical and efficient way 
possible. It will involve the immediate full equipment of 
the navy in all respects, but particularly in supplying it 
with the best means of dealing with the enemy's submarines. 

"It will involve the immediate addition to the armed forces 
of the United States, already provided for by law in case 

[114] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



of war, of at least 500,000 men, who should, in my opinion, 
be chosen upon the principle of universal HabiHty to service, 
and also the authorization of subsequent additional incre- 
ments of equal force so soon as they may be needed and 
can be handled in training. It will involve also, of course, 
the granting of adequate credits to the Government, sus- 
tained, I hope, so far as they can equitably be sustained 
by the present generation, by well conceived taxation. 

"I say sustained so far as may be equitable by taxation, 
because it seems to me that it would be most unwise to 
base the credits, which will now be necessary, entirely on 
money borrowed. It is our duty, I most respectfully urge, 
to protect our people, so far as we may, against the very 
serious hardships and evils which would be likely to arise 
out of the inflation which would be produced by vast loans. 

"In carrying out the measures by which these things are 
to be accompHshed we should keep constantly in mind the 
wisdom of interfering as little as possible in our own prep- 
aration and in the equipment of our own mihtary forces 
with the duty — for it will be a very practical duty — of sup- 
plying the nations already at war with Germany with the 
materials which they can obtain only from us or by our 
assistance. They are in the field, and we should help them 
in every way to be effective there. 

"I shall take the liberty of suggesting, through the several 
executive departments of the Government, for the consid- 
eration of your committees, measures for the accomplish- 
ment of the several objects I have mentioned. I hope 
that it will be your pleasure to deal with them as having 
been framed after very careful thought by the branch of 
the Government upon which the responsibihty of conducting 
the war and safeguarding the nation will most directly fall. 

Against Selfish and Autocratic Power 

**'fX7'HILE we do these things, these deeply momentous 

' ' things, let us be very clear, and make very clear to all the 

world, what our motives and our objects are. My own thought 

[ 115] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



has not been driven from its habitual and normal course 
by the unhappy events of the last two months, and I do 
not believe that the thought of the nation has been altered 
or clouded by them. I have exactly the same things in 
mind now that I had in mind when I addressed the Senate 
on the 22d of January last; the same that I had in mind 
when I addressed the Congress on the 3d of February and on 
the 26th of February. Our object now, as then, is to vin- 
dicate the principles of peace and justice in the life of the 
world as against selfish and autocratic power, and to set 
up amongst the really free and self-governed peoples of the 
world such a concert of purpose and of action as will hence- 
forth insure the observance of those principles. Neutrality 
is no longer feasible or desirable where the peace of the 
world is involved and the freedom of its peoples, and the 
menace to that peace and freedom lies in the existence 
of autocratic Governments, backed by organized force, 
which is controlled wholly by their will, not by the will 
of their people. We have seen the last of neutrality in 
such circumstances. We are at the beginning of an age in 
which it will be insisted that the same standards of con- 
duct and of responsibility for wrong done shall be observed 
among nations and their Governments that are observed 
among the individual citizens of civilized States. 

Against Secret Intrigue and Cunning 

**TT7'E HAVE no quarrel with the German people. We have 
' ^ no feeling towards them but one of sympathy and friend- 
ship. It was not upon their impulse that their Govern- 
ment acted in entering this war. It was not with their 
previous knowledge or approval. It was a war determined 
upon as wars used to be determined upon in the old, un- 
happy days, when peoples were nowhere consulted by their 
rulers and wars were provoked and waged in the interest 
of dynasties or of little groups of ambitious men who were 
accustomed to use their fellow men as pawns and tools. 
Self-governed nations do not fill their neighbor States with 

[ 116] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



spies or set the course of intrigue to bring about some 
critical posture of affairs which will give them an oppor- 
tunity to strike and make conquest. Such designs can be 
successfully worked out only under cover and where no 
one has the right to ask questions. Cunningly contrived 
plans of deception or aggression, carried, it may be, from 
generation to generation, can be worked out and kept 
from the light only within the privacy of courts or behind 
the carefully guarded confidences of a narrow and privi- 
leged class. They are happily impossible where public 
opinion commands and insists upon full information con- 
cerning all the nation's affairs. 

A Partnership of Democratic Nations 

A STEADFAST concert for peace can never be maintained 
•^ ^ except by a partnership of democratic nations. No auto- 
cratic Government could be trusted to keep faith within 
it or observe its convenants. It must be a league of honor, 
a partnership of opinion. Intrigue would eat its vitals 
away; the plottings of inner circles who could plan what 
they would and render account to no one would be a cor- 
ruption seated at its very heart. Only free peoples can 
hold their purpose and their honor steady to a common 
end and prefer the interests of mankind to any narrow 
interest of their own. 

"Does not every American feel that assurance has been 
added to our hope for the future peace of the world by the 
wonderful and heartening things that have been happening 
within the last few weeks in Russia? Russia was known 
by those who knew it best to have been always in fact 
democratic at heart in all the vital habits of her thought, 
in all the intimate relationships of her people that spoke 
their natural instinct, their habitual attitude towards life. 
The autocracy that crowned the summit of her political 
structure, long as it had stood and terrible as was the 
reahty of its power, was not in fact Russian in origin, 
character, or purpose; and now it has been shaken off and 

[ 117] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



the great, generous Russian people have been added, in all 
their naive majesty and might, to the forces that are fight- 
ing for freedom in the world, for justice, and for peace. 
Here is a fit partner for a League of Honor. 

Criminal Intrigues of Prussian Autocracy 

**/^NE of the things that has served to convince us that 
^-^ the Prussian autocracy was not and could never be our 
friend is that from the very outset of the present war it 
has filled our unsuspecting communities, and even our of- 
fices of government, with spies and set criminal intrigues 
everywhere afoot against our national unity of counsel, our 
peace within and without, our industries and our commerce. 
Indeed, it is now evident that its spies were here even 
before the war began; and it is unhappily not a matter 
of conjecture, but a fact proved in our courts of justice, 
that the intrigues, which have more than once come peril- 
ously near to disturbing the peace and dislocating the in- 
dustries of the country, have been carried on at the insti- 
gation, with the support, and even under the personal 
direction of official agents of the Imperial Government, 
accredited to the Government of the United States. 

"Even in checking these things and trying to extirpate 
them we have sought to put the most generous interpre- 
tation possible upon them because we knew that their 
source lay, not in any hostile feeling or purpose of the 
German people toward us (who were, no doubt, as igno- 
rant of them as we ourselves were), but only in the selfish 
designs of a Government that did what it pleased and told 
its people nothing. But they have played their part in 
serving to convince us at last that that Government enter- 
tains no real friendship for us, and means to act against 
our peace and security at its convenience. That it means 
to stir up enemies against us at our very doors the inter- 
cepted note to the German Minister at Mexico City is 
eloquent evidence. 

[ 118] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



For the Liberation of the German Peoples Included 

WE ARE accepting this challenge of hostile purpose 
because we know that in such a Government, following 
such methods, we can never have a friend; and that in the 
presence of its organized power, always lying in wait to ac- 
complish we know not what purpose, there can be no assured 
security for the democratic Governments of the world. We 
are now, about to accept gauge of battle with this nat- 
ural foe to liberty and shall, if necessary, spend the whole 
force of the nation to check and nullify its pretensions and 
its power. We are glad, now that we see the facts with 
no veil of false pretense about them, to fight thus for the 
ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its 
peoples, the German peoples included; for the rights of 
nations, great and small, and the privilege of men every- 
where to choose their way of life and of obedience. 

"The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace 
must be planted upon the tested foundations of political 
liberty. We have no selfish ends to serve. We desire no 
conquest, no dominion. We seek no indemnities for our- 
selves, no material compensation for the sacrifices we shall 
freely make. We are but one of the champions of the rights 
of mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have 
been made as secure as the faith and the freedom of nations 
can make them. 

"Just because we fight without rancor and without selfish 
object, seeking nothing for ourselves but what we shall 
wish to share with all free peoples, we shall, I feel confi- 
dent, conduct our operations as belligerents without passion 
and ourselves observe with proud punctilio the principles of 
right and of fair play we profess to be fighting for. 

"I have said nothing of the Governments allied with the 
Imperial Government of Germany because they have not 
made war upon us or challenged us to defend our right 
and our honor. The Austro-Hungarian Government has, 
indeed, avowed its unqualified endorsement and acceptance 
of the reckless and lawless submarine warfare, adopted now 

[119] 



AMERICA'S ATTITUDE 



without disguise by the Imperial German Government, and 
it has therefore not been possible for this Government to 
receive Count Tarnowski, the Ambassador recently accred- 
ited to this Government by the Imperial and Royal Govern- 
ment of Austria-Hungary; but that Government has not 
actually engaged in warfare against citizens of the United 
States on the seas, and I take the liberty, for the present, 
at least, of postponing a discussion of our relations with the 
authorities at Vienna. We enter this war only where we 
are clearly forced into it because there are no other means 
of defending our rights. 

''It will be all the easier for us to conduct ourselves as 
belligerents in a high spirit of right and fairness because 
we act without animus, not with enmity towards a people 
or with the desire to bring any injury or disadvantage 
upon them, but only in armed opposition to an irrespon- 
sible Government which has thrown aside all considerations 
of humanity and of right and is running amuck. 

Friends or the German People 

**\A7^^ ARE let me say again, the sincere friends of the Ger- 
' ' man people, and shall desire nothing so much as the 
early re-establishment of intimate relations of mutual advan- 
tage between us, however hard it may be for them for the 
time being to believe that this is spoken from our hearts. 
We have borne with their present Government through all 
these bitter months because of that friendship, exercising 
a patience and forbearance which would otherwise have 
been impossible. 

"We shall, happily, still have an opportunity to prove that 
friendship in our daily attitude and actions towards the mil- 
lions of men and women of German birth and native sym- 
pathy who live amongst us and share our life, and we shall 
be proud to prove it towards all who are in fact loyal to 
their neighbors and to the Government in the hour of 
test. They are most of them as true and loyal Americans 
as if they had never known any other fealty or allegiance. 

C 120 ] 



TOWARD THE WAR 



They will be prompt to stand with us in rebuking and re- 
straining the few who may be of a diflFerent mind and pur- 
pose. If there should be disloyalty, it will be dealt with 
with a firm hand of stern repression; but, if it lifts its head 
at all, it will Hft it only here and there and without counte- 
nance except from a lawless and malignant few. 

"It is a distressing and oppressive duty, gentlemen of the 
Congress, which I have performed in thus addressing you. 
There are, it may be, many months of fiery trial and sacri- 
fice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead this great, 
peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and dis- 
astrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the 
balance. 

Right is More Precious Than Peace 

""DUT the right is more precious than peace, and we shall 
^ fight for the things which we have always carried nearest 
our hearts — for democracy, for the right of those who sub- 
mit to authority to have a voice in their own Governments, 
for the rights and hberties of small nations, for a universal 
dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall 
bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world 
itself at last free. 

"To such a task we can dedicate outlives and our fortunes, 
everything that we are and everything that we have, with 
the pride of those who know that the day has come when 
America is privileged to spend her blood and her might for 
the principles that gave her birth and happiness and the 
peace which she has treasured. 

"God helping her, she can do no other." 

April 2, 1917. 



[ 121 ] 



WAR BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND 
GERMANY FORMALLY DECLARED 



T70LL0WING the President's address a joint resolution 
•^ by the Senate and House of Representatives was formed, 
declaring a state of war to exist between the United States 
Government and the Imperial German Government. On 
April 4th, at II o'clock P. M., it passed the Senate by a vote 
of 82 to 6. On April 6th at 3.15 A.M., the joint reso- 
lution was adopted by the House by a vote of 373 to 50. 
The President's signature was affixed April 6th, 191 7. 
The joint resolution is as follows : 

WHEREASy The Imperial German Government has 
committed repeated acts of war against the Government 
and the people of the United States of America; therefore 
be it 

Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
That the state of war between the United States and the 
Imperial German Government, which has thus been thrust 
upon the United States, is hereby formally declared; and 

That the President be, and he is hereby, authorized and 
directed to employ the entire naval and miHtary forces of 
the United States and the resources of the Government to 
carry on war against the Imperial German Government; 
and to bring the conflict to a successful termination all the 
resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress 
of the United States. 



[ 122 ] 



BATTLES AND EVENTS 
OF THE GREAT WAR 

1914 

Archduke Ferdinand of Austria assassinat- 
ed in Serbia ___-_--- June 28 
German forces enter Luxemburg - - - August i 
German troops attack Liege ----- " 4 

Germans enter Liege ------^ " 7 

France invaded southern Alsace - - - - " 7 

Germans enter Brussels ------ « 20 

Germans take Namur, attack Mons. Battles 
of Mons and Charleroi. Germans at- 
tack Allies along the Sambre - - - - " 22 

Louvain burned by Germans _ _ _ _ " 27 

Naval battle off Heligoland " 28 

Russians defeated near Tannenburg by 

von Hindenburg ------ « 29 

French capital moved to Bordeaux - - - September 3 

Russians occupy Lemberg after taking 

Przemysl --------- « 3 

Battle of the Marne, frustrates German 

advance toward Paris ----- " 7-10 

Maubeuge taken by Germans - - - - « 7 

Battle of the Aisne _.__--- « 13 to Oct. 9 

Russians capture Jaroslav, invest Przemysl " 22 

Germans take Antwerp ------ October 9 

De Wet mutiny against Great Britain in 

South Africa -- " 12 

Edith Cavell executed by Germans in 

Belgium ---__--_- '^ 13 

BelgianGovernment moved to Havre, France " 13 

Battle of Ypres --------- " 21-31 

Germans lost ten days* battle before 

Warsaw --------- « 24 

German fleet sinks Admiral Cradock's 

flagship off Chile ------- November i 

British and French begin Dardanelles bom- 
bardment ---------- " 3 

Tsing Tao, German fortress in China, sur- 
renders to Japanese ------ " 6 

[ 128 ] 



German raider Emden sunk ----- November 9 

Second battle of Ypres ------- « 10-12 

Austrians occupy Belgrade - _ _ - _ December 2 

General De Wet captured " 2 

Germans occupy Lodz ------ « 6 

British naval victory off Falklands. Scharn- 

horst sunk --------- « 8 

Austrians evacuate Belgrade _ - - - " i^ 

German cruisers bombard unfortified 

English coast towns ------ « 16 

1915 

French Retire from Aisne battle - - - January 14 
Naval battle in North Sea. German cruiser 

Bliicher sunk -------- « 24 

Von Hindenburg again fails before Warsaw February 4 
German submarine blockade of Great Britain 

begins " 18 

Germans first use liquid fire in Vosges battle March 3 

Venizelos, Greek premier, resigns - _ _ « 6 

Zeppelins bombard Paris ------ " 21 

Przemysl surrenders to Germans _ _ _ " 22 
Falaba sunk by submarine, one American 

lost " 28 

Russians enter Hungary - " 31 

Germans use asphyxiating gas to win 

battle near Ypres ------- April 22 

Allies land forces at Dardanelles _ - _ " 25 

Germans shell Dunkirk ------ « 30 

Austro-Germans break Russian line in 

Galicia May 1-3 

Lusitania sunk, 1,200 lost, 100 Americans - " 7 

Italians cross Isonzo and begin campaign - " 29 

Zeppelins drop bombs in London _ - _ " 31 

French win ground north of Arras - - - June 16 

Venizelos wins Greek elections - - _ - " 12 

Austrians enter Lemberg ------ " 22 

Germans in South Africa surrender to 

General Botha, forfeiting West African 

possessions --------- July 8 

[124 ] 



Germans advanced in Argonne Forest - - July 
Germans occupy Warsaw and Ivangorod - August 
Naval battle in Gulf of Riga, Germans 

defeated ---------- " 

Germans take Kovno ------- " 

Zeppelin raid on London outskirts - - - " 

Arabic torpedoed -------- " 

Germany accepts American contentions on 

submarine warfare ______ September 

Germans occupy Grodno ------ " 

Czar assumes charge of Russian Army, dis- 
placing Grand Duke Nicholas - - - " 
Germans take Vilna ------- " 

French and English win ground in Cham- 
pagne ---------- « 

Zaimis succeeds Venizelos, Greek premier 

who resigns -------- October 

Allies land at Salonica ------ « 

Austro-Germans capture Belgrade - - - " 

French Foreign Minister Delcasse resigns - " 

Zeppelins kill 55 in London ----- " 

Austrians claim victory over Italians near 

Goritz " 

Briand organizes French Cabinet - - - - " 

Bulgarians occupy Nish ------ November 

Ancona torpedoed by Austrian submarine " 

Serbs lose Monastir; King Peter flees - - " 

Russians retake Czernowitz ----- December 

Ford peace ship sails ------- " 

Pope urges peace -------- " 

Allies evacuate Serbia ------- " 

Sir Douglas Haig succeeds Sir John French 

as Commander in Chief ----- " 



14 

5 

16-21 
17 
17 
19 

I 

2 

7 
18 

24-25 



9 
13 
13 

25 
29 

S 
6 

30 
I 

4 

6 

10 

IS 



1916 

Germans bombard Nancy, France - - - January 6 

Allies withdraw from Gallipoli Peninsula. 

Dardanelles attempt abandoned - - " 9 

Cettinge, capital of Montenegro, taken 

by Russians --------- " 13 

Zeppelins drop bombs on Paris at night - " 20-30 

[125 ] 



Zeppelins bombard northern England - - January 31 

Fighting in Champagne and Ypres districts January and Feb'y 
Germans bringAppam into Hampton Roads, 

one of many victims of German raider 

Mowe -_----_--_ February i 

Russians capture Erzerum, Armenia - - " 16 
Fort Douamont in Verdun district captured 

by Germans, later won back by French " 25 

Kuropatkin heads Russian armies of North " 26 

Zeppelins raid English east coast - - - March 5 

Von Tirpitz resigns as German minister 

of marine ---------- " 15 

Zeppelin raids on S. E. England - - - - " 19 

Sussex torpedoed __---_-_ « 24 

British aeroplanes attack German air- 
ship shed in Schleswig ----_« 25 

Dublin revolution breaks out, after un- 
successful attempt to land German 

arms in Ireland ------- April 24 

British and Indian troops surrender at Kut- 

el-Amara " 28 

Irish revolution crushed ------ " 29 

Germans renew attack on Verdun _ _ _ " 30 

Three Irish revolution leaders shot - - - May 3 

Connolly, Irish revolutionist, executed - " 12 

Bulgarians enter Greece ------ « 26 

Great naval battle off Jutland - - - - " 31 

Earl Kitchener and staff en route to Russia 

perish at sea in steamer Hampshire - June 6 

Italian Cabinet under Salandra resigns - " 11 

Russians enter Czernowitz ----- " 17 

Greek Government yields to Allies' demands " 22 

Allied offensive begins in Somme battle - July i 
Lloyd George made Secretary for War in 

Great Britain _-------« 6 

Russians capture Brody, Galicia ~ ~ " " ^^ 
Roger Casement, Irish leader, hanged for 

treason August 3 

Italians take Goritz ------- " 9 

French occupy Maurepas, north of the 

Somme ___------- " 24 

[ 126] 



Von Hlndenburg succeeds von Falkenhayn 

as Chief of Staff of German armies - August 29 

Belgian forces in German East Africa take 

Tabora, principal city _ _ . _ _ September 11 

Zaimis ministry in Greece resigns - - - " 13 

British use armored "tanks" first time - " 14 

Zeppelin raids on London _____ « 23-25, Oct. i 

Heavy Allies advances in Somme region - October 7 

German submarine sinks six ships off Nan- 
tucket " 8 

Germans at Verdun evacuate Fort Vaux - November 2 

Kingdom of Poland proclaimed by Ger- 
many and Austria --_--_- " 5 

Cardinal Mercier protests deportation of 

Belgians by Germany _____ « 7 

Serbians and other Allies recapture Mon- 

astir " 19 

British hospital ship Britannic sunk by mine 

in yEgean sea _--_-_-- " 21 

Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria dies; 

Charles I succeeds him ----- " 21 

Great battle of seven nations from Danube 

to Stokhod rivers on 600 mile front - December i 

Asquith resigns as British Premier - - _ " 5 

German Crown Prince renews attack on 

Verdun " 7 

Lloyd George announces his Cabinet - - " 10 

French General Robert Neville makes bril- 

Uant dash at Verdun, regaining great 

advantages _-_-----_ " 15 

Neville succeeds JofFre as French Com- 
mander in Chief ------- " 17 



1917 

Conference of Allies in Rome - _ _ _ 
Trepoff, Russian Premier, resigns. Prince 

Golitzin named to succeed him - - - 
New British drive on the Ancre - - - - 
News of German raider sinking many ships 

in South Atlantic -_--__- 

Prize ship Yarrowdale reaches German har- 
bor with 469 prisoners, 72 Americans - 

[ 127] 



January 



5 
12 

18 
19 



Battle in North Sea between British and 

German Naval Forces ----- January 22-23 
AlHes make great gains in Somme battle - Jan. -Feb. 
British rout Turks, retaking Kut-el-Amara 

after two months* oflFensive - - - - Feb. 24 

British steamer Laconia torpedoed; 12 lost 

■ — three Americans ------- " 25 

President asks Congress for power to arm 

merchantmen and otherwise defend 

neutrality ---------- " 26 

Bethmann-Hollweg, in Reichstag, defends 

submarine warfare; says U. S. favors 

Allies ----------- " 27 

German plot to ally Japan and Mexico 

against U. S. exposed ------ 28 

German plot with Colombia to seize 

Panama Canal charged ----- March 2 

Germany admits Mexico-Japan plot - - - " 3 

64th Congress expires by limitation without 

passing Armed Neutrality Bill - - - " 4 

German and Hindu arrested in New York 

in plot for revolt in India ------ 6 

Fifty-nine Americans from captured Yar- 

rowdale, held in Germany, released - - " 8 

Belgian relief ship Storstad reported sunk. 

One American aboard ------ " 10 

Anglo-Indian troops enter Bagdad - - - " ii 

American Merchant ships armed - - - - " 12 

Germans make heavy retreat before 

Bapaume ---------- " 13 

China severs relations with Germany - - " 14 

American steamer Algonquin, sunk, un- 
warned ----------- " 15 

Revolution in Russia. Czar abdicates. 

Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich 

made regent, also abdicates. Pro- 
visional government under the Duma 

takes charge --------- " 15 

U-Boats sink three U. S. ships. City of 

Memphis, Vigilancia and Illinois. 

Twelve or more Americans lost - - - " 18 

[ 128 ] 



President Wilson divided the country into 

six army departments. Ordered mobil- 
ization into Federal Service of twelve 

regiments in ten States ----- March 25 

President Wilson ordered the enlisted per- 
sonnel of the navy increased by 87,000 " 26 
Armed American freighter, Aztec, torpedoed 

without warning near Brest. Lieut. 

Fuller Gresham and twelve American 

bluejackets saved. Eleven of crew 

reported lost --------- April i 

Joint resolution of Senate and House 

of Representatives prepared, declaring 

"State of War" 

President Wilson addresses Congress, urges 

war with all resources, liberal credits to 

Allies, and an army of 500,000 men - - 
Unarmed American merchantman Missou- 

rian sunk in Mediterranean - - - - " 4 

Joint resolution passes Senate ------ 4 

Joint resolution passes House ------ 6 

War with Imperial German Government 

Formally Declared ------- 



u 



u 



ii 



[ 129 ] 



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